#i thought past lives was okay but this review killed me

[bagofbonesmp3]

on a loop

[drewharrisonwriter]

A Better Man

Status: One Shot, Complete

Summary: Dieter goes back to a place he knows so well just to get a glimpse of a life he could have had.

Word Count: 2k words

Notes: IDK, I'm way into Dieter again these days, and thought of writing this fic that's full of yearning lol

P.S. My laptop, which served me well for 5 years, just gave out. With grad school, the recent loss of my stepdad, and ongoing medical bills, finances are tight. I’m currently managing writing commissions and my dissertation from my phone, which is okay but really challenging. If you can help with a donation or by commissioning some of my writing, it would mean the world to me. Just send me a message 💜 Thank you from the bottom of my heart for any support you can offer. 💜🙏🏻

I pull up to the house slowly, like I’m sneaking up on it. The engine hums under my grip, vibrating through the steering wheel, and I kill it with a sharp twist of the key. The quiet settles in around me, and I just sit there, staring at the place I used to know so well.

It’s funny. I don’t even know why I’m here. I’m not the sentimental type—at least, that’s what I’ve been telling myself for years—but somehow, I always end up right back here. Your house. The one you made a home, way back when everything felt so damn simple.

It’s been a while. The shutters are a different color now, a soft blue. You used to complain about how you never had time to take care of the garden, but it looks… alive now. Somebody’s been looking after it, after you. It’s like the house moved on, but me? I’m still stuck.

I lean back in the seat, staring through the windshield. I remember this place, and I remember you—us. Those days when I’d crash on your couch, no questions asked. The nights we’d laugh too loud, talk too much, and I’d forget, just for a second, about the chaos waiting outside your door. This used to be the one place that felt like it could be something real.

I close my eyes, and suddenly I’m back there, in those moments that play like an old movie I can’t turn off.

–

“You know, I could get used to this,” I said, my shoulder brushing against yours as we sat on the steps of your porch. The air was thick with the scent of your jasmine plant—always too sweet, but you loved it, so I never complained. I looked over at you, trying to hide my nerves behind a grin. “Just you, me, and this crappy little neighborhood.”

You laughed, and God, that laugh—it’s like a shot of adrenaline, better than any drug I’ve ever touched. “You say that now, but you’ll get bored. You always do.”

I wanted to argue, but I just shrugged, picking at the loose thread on my jeans. “Not with you,” I said softly. “You’re the only thing I never get tired of.”

You gave me this look—like you knew something I didn’t. “We’re not like that, Dieter. We’re... something else.”

I tried to smile, but it felt wrong. “Yeah, sure. Something else.” But I wasn’t so sure anymore. Not when everything was changing so fast. I could feel it slipping away, and I didn’t know how to hold on.

–

I showed up at your door, way past midnight. I was drunk, pissed off, and lost, but you still opened up, just like you always did. No questions, no judgment—just you in your pajamas, hair a mess, eyes sleepy but warm.

“Dieter, it’s late,” you mumbled, rubbing your eyes. “What’s going on?”

“I just... I needed to be here,” I said, brushing past you into the living room like I belonged there. And for a while, I think I did. I slumped onto the couch, burying my face in my hands. “Everything’s fucked. I fucked up.”

You sat down next to me, close but not too close. You always knew how to give me just enough space to breathe. “You’ll figure it out. You always do.”

I looked at you, and for a second, I forgot about the headlines, the shitty reviews, the people tearing me apart for the mess I’d made of my own career. “You ever think... maybe we should’ve done this differently?”

You raised an eyebrow, half amused, half sad. “Done what differently?”

I shrugged, feeling stupid for even bringing it up. “Us. This. Everything.”

You smiled, but it didn’t reach your eyes. “We are what we are, Dieter…”

I wanted to say something, anything, but the words got stuck somewhere between my head and my heart. So, I did what I always do—I let the moment pass, hoping it wouldn’t be the last.

–

“I’m done, Dieter. I can’t do this anymore.”

The words hung in the air, and I could feel my chest tighten. You stood there, calm but determined, like you’d been preparing for this moment for a long time. I tried to read your face, but it was like staring at a wall—no cracks, no second thoughts.

“What do you mean, you’re done?” I shot back, my voice sharper than I intended. “We’ve been together for years! We fight, we figure it out. That’s what we do.”

You exhaled, shaking your head slowly. “We’re not together, Dieter. Not really. Not in the way that matters.” You paused, searching for the right words, and I hated how composed you were while I felt like everything was falling apart. “I want a real relationship, Dieter. I want to feel like I’m more than just the person you run to when your life is spiraling. I want something that’s going somewhere.”

I stared at you, thrown by how final you sounded. “We are going somewhere. It’s just… complicated. But we can figure it out.”

“Complicated?” You scoffed, eyes narrowing. “Dieter, I’ve been with you through your worst. Through the scandals, the press, and the stretch of weeks you didn’t even call me because you were too drunk or too high to even remember who you were with. And I stood by you, I waited for you… waiting for things to get better, but they never did. And you know why? Because you never wanted them to.”

“That’s not true,” I argued, frustration bubbling over. “I love you, you know I do.”

“But what is that worth?” you said, your voice finally breaking, the tears threatening to spill but held back by sheer force of will. “Love isn’t enough when I’m stuck living half a life with someone who can’t even be bothered to call me just because... You can’t even take me out to a decent meal. The best I get is my couch, or sitting in a Five Guys parking lot, eating drive-thru in your car with the windows tinted so dark that no one sees us. That’s not a relationship, Dieter. It’s barely even anything.”

I tried to speak, but every excuse felt thin and worn out. You were tired of the same old lines, the same old promises that things would change. And deep down, I knew I couldn’t give you what you wanted, not because I didn’t want to, but because I didn’t know how.

“It’s not that easy,” I said, frustration lacing my voice. “I can’t just—”

“That’s the point!” you interrupted, your voice rising as you lost that calm veneer. “I don’t want it to be this way. And I can’t ask you to change your life for me, I won't even want to do that… to put me in your world when I know that no one would believe it if I even tried to scream it out loud that you love me. Who would believe some girl like me? Living this mundane life, far away from the adventures you’re off having when you’re not here, when you’re not hiding away with me.”

You softened for a moment, a flicker of the love we once had shining through the hurt. “I love you too, Dieter. But love isn’t enough. Not when I can’t even call you my boyfriend, not when I’m just the girl you go to hide away when it’s convenient.”

You looked at me, your eyes filled with a mix of sadness and resolve. “I need more than this. I need more than stolen moments and secret meetups. I need someone who isn’t afraid to be with me, who wants to be with me. And you’re not that person, Dieter. You never have been.”

The finality of your words hung in the air between us, heavy and suffocating. I wanted to fight, to tell you that I could change, that we could make it work, but deep down, I knew you were right. I’d always been too afraid to give you what you deserved, and now I was paying the price.

“I’m sorry,” I whispered, the words feeling hollow and inadequate. “I’m so fucking sorry.”

You nodded, tears spilling over despite your best efforts to hold them back. “So am I,” you said, your voice barely above a whisper. “But I can’t do this anymore. I can’t keep pretending that this is enough when it’s not.”

You turned to open the door, and I watched you go, my heart breaking as the door closed behind you. You didn’t even stop to hesitate or even look back… I wanted to run after you, to pull you back and promise that I’d be better, that I’d be the man you needed. But I didn’t. I couldn’t. And that was the moment I lost you—for good this time.

–

I don’t even know why I’m here, but I can’t seem to stay away. I park a little down the street, close enough to see but far enough to not be seen, and I watch through the large windows of your house. It’s early evening, the lights are on, and I can see you moving around the kitchen, your silhouette framed against the glow.

You’re different now. Softer. Happier. And as my eyes drift lower, I see the subtle curve of your stomach, round and unmistakable. You’re pregnant. Again.

It hits me like a punch, the memory of the first time I saw you like this. I remember the way your body changed, how your skin seemed to glow, how you moved with this new grace that had me staring at you like I’d never seen anything more beautiful. You were carrying someone else’s child, but all I could think about was how much I wanted you, how much I wanted to be the one to fill you up, to make you mine in every way possible.

You shift, one hand resting on your growing belly, and I feel it all over again—the longing, the jealousy, the regret. I’d lie awake at night, thinking about you, about what it would feel like to be the one who got to hold you when you were swollen with life, about the softness of your body pressed up against mine. And now, it’s like I’m being forced to watch the life I could have had unfold right in front of me.

You laugh at something, one hand absentmindedly smoothing down your shirt, and there’s this guy—your husband, I guess—walking in from another room. He leans in, kisses you on the cheek, and it’s so damn domestic that it makes me sick. I don’t even know him, but I hate him. I hate how he gets to have you in ways I never could.

I watch as he rests his hand on your stomach, his thumb rubbing gentle circles that make you smile. It’s intimate, tender, and I can’t tear my eyes away. You look so content, so fucking perfect, and all I can think is that I’m the idiot who let this slip through my fingers.

My grip on the steering wheel tightens, knuckles white as I fight the urge to storm up to that door and tell you everything I’ve been too scared to say. I want to tell you that you’re still the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen, that I miss you in ways I can’t even describe. I want to tell you that I wish it was me. That I wish I’d been enough.

But it’s too late. It’s always been too late.

I start the engine, but I don’t drive away right away. I just sit there, staring at the life that’s no longer mine, and I feel this hollow ache in my chest that I can’t ever seem to fill. I think about you, about the way you looked at me that night when you said you loved me but that it wasn’t enough. And maybe it never was.

As I pull away, I catch one last glimpse of you through the window, your hand resting on top of your oldest child's head while you spoke to your husband, and I feel like I’m leaving something behind all over again. Maybe one day, I’ll stop coming back here. Maybe one day, I’ll let go of this ghost that’s been haunting me.

But for now, all I can do is drive. Away from you. Away from the life I’ll never have. And I wonder, for the hundredth time, what might have been if I’d just been a better man.

[starillusion13]

Like We Just Met!

Alien AU ( Intro )

“MY MBTI is ISTJ.”

“No your MBTI is OURS.”

Pairing: nct dream(ot7) x reader

Genre: Alien au, Fluff

W.C: 5.7k

Warnings: This chapter contains just some emotions and some confusing meetings with the members.

Note: please I want to thanks to people for reading and reblogging. Reviews are always appreciated 😭. Applause to the ones who come up to me to interact and they know how friendly I am. Okay enough!

Network: @k-vanity @cultofdionysusnet

Girl let me explain (I will let NCT DREAM explain to me anything, Honestly.) I just love them so much!!!

“I don’t know them.”

“Girl. You are literally giving me so many details on them since yesterday and now you are telling me that you don’t know them.”

“Trust me, I really don’t know them.”

It’s just like you are ranting about your sudden encounters with seven boys. Well, who are these boys? Your friend was out of town for one month and your life has new stories like it has come past one decade. Living in this new town with your friend is okay but you being all alone in this place seems very uncomfortable when you are literally an introvert and approaching someone or to go out often for every need is becoming unbearable. As an ISTJ, you are very independent girl, enjoy maintaining your responsibilities and duties to have a decent life than others. Your life was pretty much going usual until these random boys came across your path. You haven’t seen them before but the way they approached to you, smiling at you and helping you seems like they have known you for so long. If you have encountered them before then maybe you would have remembered them somehow but NO.

Your friend has cut the video call when she finds out how you are zoning out and her being overseas is not really possible to be on the call for too long because of the differ in time zone. You haven’t notice yet the blank screen before you as the screen turned black under being no use for more than thirty seconds. You turn to look outside the window, the wind blowing slowly but enough to wave your curtains and your locks dancing to the breeze. You inhaled sharply before drifting to the flashbacks of encountering the boys in different places.

‘Skateboard’

The evening was pretty nice and so you thought to have some time for yourself, the activities you like to do on your spare time. Being in your room all alone was eating you of boredom so grabbing your skateboard from the rack, you made your way towards the skating zone of the park. You waited in a corner and kept yourself busy on the phone to kill some time before the place become a bit less populated and then you could have your skating time. Your skateboard kept leaning against the wall and you be watching some music videos of your favorite artist with your headphones on. Head bopping to the beats and feet tapping on the pitch, not taking in the surrounding how people were going back home with the passing of time. An add appeared on your screen and you took your eyes off of the screen to finally notice that you were out for so long. Locking the phone and fishing it inside your pocket, you grabbed your board and went towards your desired spot to ride your skateboard.

You just preferred it that way, away from all people and enjoying by yourself. Hairs flowing beside your face, hands spread wide and eyes focusing on the way in front and body keeping the balance on the board. A sweet smile adorning your face and you heard a ‘click’ sound with a flash from a side, you quickly looked towards the direction but didn’t see anyone. Getting distracted, you didn’t notice a tiny rock and you fell down.

“Ahhh!”

Rubbing your elbows, you investigate your hands and legs for injuries and well, there were some scratches due to the fall and it’s stinging. Your butt is paining as you fell on it and you didn’t think you could walk anymore like this but its not like someone would carry you to your house so you have to do everything on your own. You tried to get up but it was all in vain when you saw an extended hand in front of you. Eyes followed the hand to his face and damn, the boy was so cute but he didn’t look like any common guy from the colony, he looks different than usual, maybe he is not from anywhere around. Also, when did he approach you? You didn’t hear any footsteps and did he see you fall down? Thinking this you felt shy in front of him. The boy suddenly gave you a smile and honestly you thought that you have never seen such a cute boy ever in your life. He gestured to hold his hand and when you hesitantly accepted the offer, he quickly pulled you up. Before you could say anything, he started to brush off your hands and legs and your shorts but keeping himself decent from maintaining not to touch anywhere private. You shyly tugged your hairs behind and thanked him. He laughed, shook his head and patted your head like you are his pet.

“Come on, dude its okay. I feel like you needed my help. Its pretty late and why are you out in this hour?”

“Uh, it’s fine as I live down the streets and I like being alone here.”

“You skate so good. Can you teach me someday?”

“Yeah sure. If only we meet again then I will teach you promise.”

“We will meet again fore sure, myself Mark.”

He extended his hand for a handshake and you just stared at it. Biting your lips, you were deciding whether you should accept it or not and with a final smile, you shook his hand.

“Y/N. Nice to meet you.”

“Such a pretty name. I hope we will meet again.”

He gave you a printed band-aid from his pocket and when you rejected it, he bent down to put it on your knees.

“Thanks Mark.”

“Just be careful on skateboard next time.”

With that you both parted your ways but somewhere you hoped to see him again. He helped you to reach your house because you were limping and he insisted. Turning your back to him, a smile appeared on your face again and you ran inside. Since that day, you met often near the park and deep inside, without any reason you felt like to go there even just to get a glimpse of him playing basketball with his friends. Well, skateboarding is not your hobby but you are addicted to it for him.

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‘Blue waves’

Another day of your life and you feeling down for missing your parents. The memories of your happy moments all spent together running through your mind and tears running down your cheeks. You knew that if you spend some more time inside the house alone, you might think of all worst possibilities and so you made your way towards the bus stop. It was a calm afternoon with a pleasant weather and you made your mind to relieve yourself near a seaside. You took a bus to the nearest beach and meanwhile you noticed a child playing with her mother beside your seat. You sadly smiled at them and a tear fell from your eyes. Reaching to the desired location, you stood at the entrance of the path leading to the beach. Staring at the sea from afar somewhat felt like nostalgic. It reminded you of your father who used to wait with some candies or flowers for you and your mother near the shore and waving at both of you. Then, both of you used to run to him to give a tight hug to each other. Those bright happy days are just fading memories now.

Wiping your eyes, with slow footsteps, you walked towards the shore. Hands clutching your flowy knee length skirt. Pressing your teeth tightly and gulping the lump in your throat so that not a single sob could escape your lips. On reaching the shore, ears picked up the loud growling of the blue waves of the sea hitting the shore. You let your eyes closed to only listen to the sounds of the nature and how the breeze hitting your body as if it could take away all your problems away. The breeze caressing your cheeks as if your mother giving you some love after a stressful day.

“Mom...Dad…I miss you…” You whispered. It’s not like anyone could hear you as every other sound was getting lost due the loud waves.

“They miss you too, you know.”

Your eyes shot open on hearing the voice. Looking at the side, you could see a boy staring at you with a pitiful expression. His voice was so melodious as if a siren suddenly appeared from the sea to accompany you. You wanted to be alone but somehow you were appreciating his presence on your side. He had that calmness which can ease your racing mind and his voice was as if could just silence the loud waves. Well, when he spoke, the only sound you could hear was his and the shore was strangely silent.

“Huh?”

Giving you a soft smile, he gave you a paper. Taking the paper from his hand, you could see how beautifully painted was the view with a girl facing the sea under the sun in an afternoon. Just like you. The difference was only you were in a gloomy mood and the girl in the painting was somewhat happy.

“Do you like it?”

“Hm. This is so nice. Have you painted it?”

“Yes. Just now when you were lost in your thoughts.”

“Uh y-yeah. The girl in this picture seems so lively unlike me.”

“Nothing is there to be sad you know. We should leave behind the past and stay happy with the ones you are currently with. Like these blue waves always washing the shore and keeping it look so refreshing so let your sad thoughts flow away with these waves and lock your memories safe.”

He came closer to your form, palm resting on your cheek, fingers brushing the dried-up tears.

“Let someone guide you to the right path when you are needed. Blue represents hope and let these blue waves give you some hope to be cheerful always.”

With a last glance, he went away leaving the piece of paper with you. Glancing to the corner of the paper, there was a signature with a name ‘Renjun.’

You have a new memory and interest to come to seaside often. Well, surprisingly everyday you would find that the boy be painting there as if he waiting for your arrival. The blue waves must have some magic with hopes.

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‘pretzel’ and ‘yoghurt shake’

Craving for snacks is a daily part of your life. Glancing at the clock you found out its already late night but it didn’t matter when the convenience store would be open whenever you would go there. So, just picking up your phone and wallet, you made up your mind to head out. Locking the door, you walked down the streets towards the store. The night was chilly unlike other days and you hugged yourself, also your heart suddenly racing for how unusually the place was quiet and dark a bit. Calming yourself, you hurriedly made your way when the neo signboard of the store was in your sight.

Quickly getting inside the store, the bell ringing alarming the person at counter of your arrival. She frowned while getting up as why you were breathing heavily. Asking you if you needed any help, you shook your head and waved your hands in front, laughing awkwardly and told that how everything was fine. You were well aware of the place that how it was so safe to roam around in late hours but still you felt that someone was following you and you couldn’t ignore how your heart was racing. Was it due to the fear or it was signalling something else? Shaking your doubts, you went towards your usual snack centre.

Eyes taking in all the products available and you could see how some things were out of stock and many were newly arrived. Some things were very new to you as you haven’t seen them before so you squinted your eyes to read the names as it was on a top shelf and the way light was falling on it, making it difficult to read.

“Dream Pretzel.”

You got startled when a husky and dark voice spoke behind you. Your back hit his chest and you quickly turned around hoping he would move away a bit before you could reply him. But no. He remained on his place and now you were looking up to his height and him towering you with a dark expression. You looked around you to see if anyone was watching you or not but thankfully you were alone with him. Thankfully? Alone? No, I should tell him to move.

“Can you please move back a bit? Thank you.”

His eyes scanning your face and you could feel he was not having any intention to move. Gulping you tried to push him, hands on his chest over his black t-shirt. He quickly took a hold of your wrist and gripped it tighter, you winced under his strong hold.

“I have to take the item from that shelf so its you who is blocking my way.”

Releasing a heavy breath, you made your attempt to move to the side but before you could, he raised his hands and pressed his body in front to grab a packet from the top shelf. You panicked and your eyes went wide due to his actions. Getting the item in his hold, he scooted backwards, giving you some space to breathe finally. You were frozen and mentally screaming what just happened right now. He stared at you intensely and under his gaze, you were feeling so exposed even when you were fully covered in hoodie and trouser. You avert your eyes away from him and with slow steps, you went to the other shelf.

Deciding on the item you wanted to pick for your craving, your view got blocked when suddenly a snack was placed in front of your eyes. Annoyedly, you craned to look who was the person. And. that boy again, but he was gesturing you to grab the item from his hand. You hesitantly held it and without speaking a word, he turned around. You looked down to the item and it was the pretzel.

“Thank you……”

“Jeno…..it’s nice….you will like the taste.”

A smile appeared on your face and with that you went towards the drink section. Oblivion to you, he was smiling all the way out of the store. Arriving to the drink section, to your disappointment, your favorite drink was not available so you decided to leave the drink for that day and just go back with hot sauce snack or maybe some other snacks. Satisfied with your decision, you grabbed some other things in your way to the counter, the cashier smiled at you. Scanning the items, you noticed how she kept the pretzel packet on the other side with a yoghurt shake. A frown appeared on your face and the cashier told you about the total cost.

“That pretzel?”

“Oh sure. Its yours but the boy came here before has already paid for it and another boy who was with him paid for the shake and asked me to give it you.”

“Another boy?”

“Hm. They were together and they bought these for themselves too. You must be close to them that they bought these for you and they come here often but I haven’t seen you with them anytime. Are you, their girlfriend?”

“What? No no. I- I don’t know them. We just met few minutes back….”

“Oh. Here is your item ma’am. Have a safe night ahead.”

After greeting each other goodbye, you made your way back on the same road which seems more-lonely than before. You felt that creepy feeling rising up your spines and goosebumps appearing on your skin when you felt eyes on you. Someone might be watching from the dark. But who? And why? Isn’t this place safe for the people but that feeling of being watched could not be ignored. Your attempt to run was interrupted when you felt a hand resting on your shoulder from behind.

“AAAAAAAHHH.”

“Shhh. Wow. You scream so loud.”

“W-who are you?”

A ghost? A kidnapper? A murderer? No no no. please why me?  You just wanted to have some time for yourself with snacks and binge watch dramas but you didn’t think of getting yourself in such situation anyhow.

“I am not a ghost.” In a weird accent, the voice spoke up and you somehow hoped the person to be ghost.

“Please…let me go…I want to go home.”

“I wont hurt you. I just want to say you something.”

You slowly turned around to meet the voice. You stared to the smiling face and his shining eyes under the streetlight, he looking so cute with that smile. You nodded to tell him to proceed whatever he wants to tell you. He glanced at your hand which was holding the items you bought previously.

“Drink that shake. It is a rare one and I know that you will like it.”

You glanced at the plastic bag in your hand and in confusion, you look towards him. You were still thinking how he knew about the shake as it was not visible from outside then it’s only possible if he was stalking you. The eyes watching you all these times must be him. Oh wait. This shake was given by someone then maybe he is that person but why he is approaching you like a creep. He could have offered you in that store in person and not mentioning about it here in the lonely streets. Well, lonely…his presence was no more making you feel alone rather you were at ease and feeling…safe. I should not feel this right now.

“Are you the person who bought me this?”

His smile widened and he was grinning towards you like a little boy who got his candy after whining for too long. He nodded and pinched your nose.

“That’s a gift for you. We are neighbours and I thought I should start our friendship like this.”

“Oh thanks.” You offered a kind smile to him. “But you could have given me before then we would have been friends then and there.”

“well, I was scared of the rejection and I’m kind of shy and also my friend was in hurry for something.”

“Okay.”

You nodded on his words. Suddenly, he came closer to you than before and you became cautious of the situation and scooted back. He noticed your action and a hurt expression appeared on his face but quickly he showed you his sweet smile. You awkwardly mimicked the smile when he offered his hand for a shake. Your mind recalled the situation with mark and a thought came across your mind that after that event how you are meeting so many new people in your life. Maybe, without your friend in the town, you are finally socializing with people. Unlike before, you gladly accepted his hand and shook with a shy and awkward smile.

“We are friends now. Myself Jaemin.”

“Nice to meet you Jaemin. This is Y/N.”

His grip tightened and he closed his eyes with a sly smile resting on his face. He was memorizing how you sweet voice voiced out his name and he could never be happier than hearing his name from you. Opening his eyes, he brought your hands up to his lips to press a soft kiss on your knuckles. You were lost in admiring his features that you didn’t notice his actions until you felt his cold lips against your skin. Shy? He is a damn flirt.

“Let’s head back home. Its pretty late. Even if the place is safe, you don’t know what mysteries are hiding behind the dark.”

Agreeing with him, you both went back to your way. Then, you noticed how he really was your neighbour but you didn’t come across with each other’s path before.

After that day, you somehow felt an eagerness to pass through the convenience store everyday after having the skating lesson with Mark in the park. On arriving everyday to the store, you could see Jaemin drinking a yoghurt milk and grinningly waiting for you and also, Jeno stealing glances from the side while being busy playing games on his phone. The must be very close with each other that they always being together.

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‘Poison’

Waiting. That’s what you were literally doing for past fifteen minutes but still not seeing any sight of the person. It’s quite a late afternoon and you were so happy today. Why? Just because you nowadays feel happy after coming from your daily tour from the seaside. And today, you spent a bit more time with that blue wave guy. You chuckled on your own thought as what a silly nickname you have given him. With a little pout, you shrink in your seat. He usually comes running to you when he would see you sitting there. You casted a glance to your skateboard and well you could see the teddy bear sticker on it and that was what Mark had sticked on it last day.

“So, who is that lucky person you are thinking about?”

Craning your neck, you could see a guy chewing a gum and giving you a teasing smirk and shielding his eyes with a sunglass. With striking a pose, he brushed his hairs backward and when he felt your eyes on him, his smirk became wide. With a striking walk, he came beside you and sat on the empty place.

“Who are you?”

“You don’t know me? That’s so bad.”

He asked you and fake gasped when you shook your head. He was reacting as if it’s your fault in not being aware of his status. A frown appeared on your face and your expressions were totally how you were judging his over dramatic self.

“Why is it important to know?”

Clearing his throat, he turned his body towards your direction, placing a hand on head of the seat and placing the leg over another, striking a sassy pose. You pressed your lips just to prevent yourself showing your annoyance to him and being rude on your first meeting.

“Everyone in this colony knows about me and I’m honestly surprised that you don’t know me.”

“Okay?”

“Yah! Why are you so casual about it? Don’t I stand out among all the boys here.”

Honestly, he stands out. It was because you haven’t encountered any other boy with such a unique personality who acts like this on their first meeting even with a girl. Every guy tries to be formal or shy when interacting but this boy was totally over confident about himself and somewhere deep inside you were enjoying his company while waiting for Mark. You laughed lightly at his annoyed expression but quickly regained your composure when you saw him taking off his sunglasses and glaring at you.

“So how was your little ride from seaside?”

“What?”

How does he know about you? You were literally scared when he asked it and you thought that he might be some kind of stalker who was acting dumb in front of you.

“I’m not a stalker. That’s a very cheap name for me. Haechan is my name. I’m friends with Renjun and Mark so I know you.”

“oh.” So, they have talked about me among themselves. Why? They haven’t mentioned about being known to each other. Oh wait. You haven’t told them about each other then why they will tell you. But this boy is telling that they have talked about you then they must know now.

“Take this, you are overthinking too much. It looks like you don’t interact with people that much and that’s how you think about all the worst possibilities of everything.”

You watched how he took out a gum strip from a small pocket sized box and offered you to take it. You stared at that.

“What if it’s poison and then you might kidnap me?”

“That’s true. But to your luck, I don’t carry those cheap and useless stuffs in my precious and luxury jacket’s pocket. You are the poison to my mind you know. When they talk about you, after that you are stuck in my head and it’s so relaxing to see the angel in person.”

Again, that damn smirk reappeared on his face.

“Also, I would not attempt to pull out such a stunt in front of these much of people, right my Y/N?”

Gesturing with his open palm to all the people spread across the park. He pointed with his chin to take the gum and you accepted it. Satisfied with you, he gave you a teasing grin and eyes scanned your form.

“Haechan. What are you doing here? And.... oh Y/N?”

“I was waiting for you Mark.” you smiled.

“And me being a gentleman was accompanying her unlike you who kept her waiting here for so long.”

“Oh me. I’m sorry. I was just stuck in an important work and couldn’t make it on time.”

Haechan made a ‘tsk’ sound and stared at him to which the latter glared at him and it was of no effect on him because he smiled back to him.

“it’s okay Mark. I was….enjoying his company.”

Damn. His smug face was mocking his friend whose coming late was up to his satisfaction that he got to spend time with you.

“I’m sorry Y/N but I cant spend time with you today as I have to go somewhere and I thought you must be here so I came running here to tell you.” He awkwardly smiled to you and shuffled his hairs and honestly you found it too attractive.

“it’s okay. I can understand.”

Hanging his arm around Haechan’s neck, he bid you goodbye and your eyes followed how they were fighting and bickering jokingly while making their way out of the park. Looking down to the gum in your hand, your eyes widen when a paper folded into tiny folds was attached to it. On unfolding it, you found out the scribbles on it and you giggled.

‘This is my number below. If he makes you wait again, call me and I will tell you about his whereabout. Save the number, ~Haechan.’

::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

‘Broken Melodies’

Suddenly today you are feeling to go through the confession page of your office. One might wonder as if why you were suddenly wanting to go through that site when you are never really interested in those stuffs. Well, the real matter was that you heard a rumor that one of your mangers has proposed his employee and everyone was fangirling over the fact. Surprisingly, even you. You were not expecting something like that for you but was really curious on the fact that how does that page look like. How people actually confess there? As far as You heard, the manager was an anonymous character there then how come everyone knows about it? Did that girl inform them?

You took your laptop and sat comfortably leaning to the headboard with it on your lap. You remembered the name of the page and typed in your Instagram account. The account popped up and you quickly clicked on it. You opened the first post and read the confession. You giggled on the cute message. Eyes reading all the posts when suddenly a particular post made you stop. The person had mentioned his name, well only his account name on Instagram ‘Broken melodies’.

I fell in love again, with her...again. I tried everyday to teach me how to unlove someone. Looking up to the sky, I have told myself countable times that I am capable of leaving her there. But… I cant get her out of my mind even if I hate her. I hate when I see those eyes staring back at me as if I am a stranger and we never knew each other. Whenever she comes near to me, those memories come across my mind along with her presence. Huh! Then only I can realize how I have treasured every moment spend together. Maybe we have made some mistakes back then and I should keep in mind not to repeat them again when she is close to me again. Again, in my life. I want to keep her with me. She is my everything but I’m just a stranger to her. I want to spend my every seven days of a week with you. Can we turn it back again?

I want to sing to her and see her smile again. Those admiration for me in her eyes, I miss them. My songs were the most melodious tunes with her but they are just the broken melodies without her.

“Oh damn. Who is this? I want her to get back to him. I don’t want him to sing alone, she should see this. But I haven’t heard any break up story in our work place.”

Thinking on the gossips you heard all in the past and recently, you tried to remember any story like this. Oh wait. Then this person has a lover from outside the work place.

Smiling, you like the post and commented.

‘You will get her soon.’

Within two minutes, you got a notification from Instagram and it was of someone liked your comment and when you opened the banner, it was from ‘Broken Melodies’.

Somewhere in a cold room, a smiling boy smiling and staring at his phone in his hand on reading a comment. He quickly liked it and sent a follow request to the account. Found it. He shook his head when he realised how he was smiling like a fool, maybe a fool in love.

“Chenle…Why are you smiling at the screen? What’s there so interesting that you couldn’t hear me calling out your name?”

“I have found her profile.”

“Whose?”

“Y/N.”

The latter boy just shook his head but not because he thought his friend was silly but he was going to ask him for the profile and the owner of that account later that night.

“Are you coming?”

“YES. HAECHAN!”

“You didn’t have to scream so loud. Aish, my ears will bleed soon.”

Chenle started laughing on seeing his friend’s dramatic attempt to press his palms over his ears and fake crying that he couldn’t hear anything anymore.

You accepted the profile when you thought he must be another worker from your office as all other employees you know were already friends with him. This is how the story begins with the pages being turned over to the initial.

::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

‘Starry night’

“Have you ever wondered if anybody is looking back to from up there?”

You turned to your supposed to be high school classmate. He was already staring at the sky and was attempting to count the stars. Your thoughtful expression glanced at him and avert your eyes back to the sky.

Is there?

“I don’t know….”

“There is someone or should say some people.”

His eyes taking in the view, how the moonlight falling over you and you were still managing to glow. To some other eyes, you might be a common person standing to the side leaning against the pillar on the bridge with your boyfriend but to him you were the most shining star under the night sky at that moment. He met you at the bus stand few days back when you were returning from your work and he was so happy to meet you after so many years. You were confused when he first introduced himself but you then realised that he was the quiet and nerdy boy in your class.

It was Sunday evening when you both decided to have a meet up to chat and relive those old school memories. He was still a shy boy but you saw how he has gained so much confidence unlike before because of which he could approach you that day.

“You are telling it the way as if you are sure and can prove it if possible.”

“I can.”

“huh?’

“There are many things you still don’t know, Y/N.”

“And you know?”

“Perhaps yes.”

“Jisung?”

“Hm…”

“Have you lost someone to up there?”

Silence. That's what you got in return after you asked the question to him. You casted a worried glance towards him to see if you have crossed your boundaries and asked any question that might be too sensitive to him in some ways. When you were about to apologize to him, he turned around and cupped your face and you watched how a tear fell sliding through his cheeks, the end of tear line reflecting the moonlight.

“Yes. A very precious one.”

“Can’t you………get back them again?”

“I have got her back again. Very close to my heart and the person will be there with me all night long under this starry blanket of the night sky.”

“That’s really nice.”

……………………..

Your hands went up to touch your cheeks and felt tears falling, similarly the way you had seen on Jisung’s face. Why are you crying? It was not you who lost someone except your parents but the way he was saying those words while staring directly to your eyes felt so real like as if he was directing the words to you.

You glanced at the clock and it was already so late and you looked at the snacks kept on the table which you bought from the store before calling your friend. When the clock shows how late you were and the nest day you need to wake up early for your work, you realised you were zoning out for too long, thinking about the encounters with these seven boys. The encounters were like a dream occurring in the reality.

Arranging everything as per your routine before bed, you went on to have a sleep to rest your mind and body after having your little trips to different places.

You have to arrange the pieces to the puzzle of your life. These boys seem like the missing puzzle pieces and are to fix your life into a final piece.

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

Taglist: @mymoodwriting @justhere4kpop @vvshere @anyamaris @yeoobin @icchyi @jwnghyuns @piratequeen-queenofgames @dinonuguaegi @oreharuuu @eriny123 @jaehunnyy @is4b3ll3s @she-is-dreaming

(Open! Send ask/reply/dm)

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[rewatching-sam-and-dean]

My Commentary on Rob and Rich Reviewing (4x14) Sex and Violence

I was listening to the latest Supernatural Then and Now Podcast (The Siren Episode) and I had to stop it after the Rob and Rich review to write down my thoughts because it annoyed me so much.

The guys both thought the episode was okay, but a bunch of things “bumped” for them. This is fine, and everyone is entitled to their own opinion about an episode, but some of the things that “bumped” for them “bump” for me.

My thoughts under the cut …

Bump # 1 - The Siren turning out to be a man

So, both Rs had an issue with the siren being a man since the lore showed them as women, and I think, because in real mythology they are women. Though they conceded that the a male siren could be a thing too, it seemed to really bother them that the siren ended up not being about a sexual connection with the brothers (though Rich saw the flask sharing scene as flirtatious … because no guys have ever shared a flask, including, Dean and Bobby).

I’m sorry, but the siren targeting the brothers, and using a version of an ideal brother to get to Dean isn’t a plot hole or a “stretch” or something, it’s an interesting choice and it’s exactly the point of the episode. While many men are vulnerable to a pretty woman who is into them, Dean just wants Sam. He wants his relationship with Sam to be better. In particular, he’s so worried about Sam and insecure in their bond that he wants a Sam who likes what he likes but, more importantly, one who listens to him and doesn’t hide things from him. And I know I’ve written about this before on a previous post, but Dean doesn’t NEED the siren to be a hot girl; he can find one of those easily. He needs a Sam he can trust. That’s the whole point. The show is drawing the comparison between sexual intimacy/romantic companionship (usually one of the most desired things in literature/media) to the brothers relationship to show how much brotherhood matters to Dean in particular (in this case).

The way the male siren actor portrays its interest in the brothers, to me, is very much like it’s intrigued and excited that it found a high even better than the sexual desire that it usually feeds off of. When the siren feels how desperate Dean is for the bond with Sam to be fixed, it finds him more interesting than it’s usual target. Dean’s longing for Sam (not sexual) is even stronger than the sexual desire or romantic companionship that the siren usually feeds off of, so much so that the siren changes its entire MO to go after the brothers.

Bump # 2 - The Doctor sleeping with Sam (when she isn’t the siren) is weird

So, the Rs disagreed on the “bumpiness” of this one. Rob thought it was weird that the doctor would just decide to sleep with Sam (at work), while it didn’t bother Rich because … Jared Padalecki. Sound argument (in this case), Rich.

Still, the doctor is a little unusual, and her behaviour is clearly intended to be a misdirect, but the show does a good enough job of suggesting she had a bad breakup (or worse) and is now just sort of living in the moment, so her behaviour doesn’t bother me. Also, Sam is hot.

What is stranger than the doctor’s behaviour, for the audience who knows him, is Sam having sex with her I that moment. Not only that, but Sam is very chill when she’s hitting on him, where in the past, Sam has often been a little shy or awkward with women that he’s been attracted to or interested in. So no, this is not Sam’s usual MO to sleep with the doctor, especially when we know he and Ruby are or were also sleeping together. Sam is not acting entirely like his usual self. And he hasn’t been acting entirely like himself for a while now.

Bump # 3 - The Siren telling the boys to fight each other and saying the winner can “be with” him

I don’t know why they had an issue with this. The siren literally explains that it loves the rush of having people willing to do anything for it, even kill people they love. What the siren tells the brothers doesn’t matter because it’s not like it’s really planning to have a relationship with the brother who wins the fight. And the boys are already infected at this point, so it’s just giving them incentive to fight. It’s not sticky about the sexual-ness of people’s need for the siren, it’s about the desperation they have to be with it (in whatever way).

Bump #4 - Sam dismissing the Doctor after sleeping with her.

The guys were both bothered by Sam not bothering to say goodbye to the doctor, and they mentioned that it seemed sort of old-school (womanizing?). Rob said that Sam dismissing her was more like something Dean would do than Sam. I know that I already said this, but this is the whole point. Sam hasn’t been acting like his old self. This isn’t an accidental writing mistake, where the writer accidentally wrote Sam more like Dean. Sam is different now.

It also isn’t like Sam to call Dean weak, or ridicule him for being messed up from his experience in hell. Season 2 Sam would never, and Season 3 Sam wouldn’t either. Season 4 Sam has changed from the trauma of losing Dean, drinking demon blood, and having Ruby in his ear.

Also, to play devils advocate on myself, Sam has actually left towns before without saying goodbye to the girl he had a connection with, maybe not after sleeping with her, but it’s not wholly out of character for him to leave without saying goodbye (I’m not criticizing him for this). Also, I really don’t think that doctor was looking for anything more from Sam beyond hooking up in her office, so this doesn’t bother me much.

Final thoughts

Anyway, I’m not arguing that everyone has to love every episode, or even like all the ones that I do. I’m not even arguing that people need to like Sex and Violence because it really can be a little uncomfortable, and there is a bit of a sexual undercurrent to it all, even though that’s not the sirens intention with the brother. That’s also not exactly new on Supernatural. However, it’s weird to me that so many of the things that “bumped” for Rob and Rich seem to me like very deliberate choices by the writers, not careless mistakes or pointlessly out of character. This episode reveals a lot about where Sam and Dean are at this point in the season, both individually and in their relationship.

Granted, I have the benefit of watching the episode and knowing where it’s all leading, but this is what sort of bothers me about hearing people discuss the show who are doing it for a purpose and are probably only half-invested in the story. They miss things that seem like they should be really clear. Also, it’s funny when they find things uncomfortably sexual in relation to Sam and Dean (they didn’t outright say that, but I think it was implied in what they said) and act like it’s a surprise or out of place. Again, this isn’t new. They obviously listened to too many hellers if they didn’t realize that Sam and Dean are weirdly close at times or that the show makes some pretty blatant parallels between them and couples or makes quasi-incestuous connections between Sam and Dean.

I have nothing else to add here. This was mostly just a rant, but feel free to add your two cents if you made it this far.

[honeylations]

- Flashing your girlfriend during an argument -

YUNA x FEM!READER

———

One thing you’ve come to learn when dating Yuna was that she gets easily jealous whenever you were too touchy/clingy with members or even if you were playfully holding the manager’s hand when crossing the city roads. She never went to the extent of actually almost killing someone but you could see her throw daggers from her cat eyed glares.

She had a cute baby face though so you often found her jealous side more adorable than frightening. But you always know when she gets annoyed.

Like right now.

Earlier on, she was fully focused on her English homework that she didn’t give you any attention at all. You even asked her to take a small break so you could get your dose of love but she refused to get up from the chair until she had reviewed one chapter of the book her homework was based on. Sighing at her stubborn self, you decided to hang out with Yeji at her bedroom while Lia, Chaer and Ryujin watched a movie downstairs in the living room.

So here you were, sitting next to Yeji on her bed, backs resting against the headboard as you talked to her about your past blind dates before joining JYP entertainment and meeting Yuna.

Yeji was known to be quite touchy but that was just her love language. Whenever she laughed at your jokes, she’d gently smack your shoulder or rest her hand on your knee. You and Yeji had met before Yuna joined the industry so you were glued to the hip and people even thought you two were dating. However, you made it clear that everything was platonic and that you saw Yeji more like an older sister.

Yuna doesn’t currently believe that. She clenched her fists seeing the way Yeji looked into your eyes as you continued your story. It didn’t take long for you to pause and notice your girlfriend’s presence at the doorway. “Oh hi baby! Have you finished your homework?”

“Yeah. I have.” She responded sharply. No bright emotion like she usually does.

“Great! Would you like to join our conversation?” You smiled, reaching your arms to her like a baby.

“No thanks. I’m going to bed.” She muttered and left, leaving you confused.

Yeji seemed to get the idea at why her cute maknae was acting all sour. “It’s okay, Y/n. I think you should check on your jelly girlfriend before she murders me in my sleep”

You chuckled and stood up from her bed. “She’s such a baby. I’ll let you know what happens”

You and Yeji big each other good night before you went to your shared bedroom with Yuna, locking the door behind you. You tried not to laugh at seeing your girlfriend face first into the bed, sulking like an actual child.

“Baby, you know I’m dating you right?”

“Go away.”

You rolled your eyes and went to the bed, forcing her to turn around so she was facing you. You straddled her lap and forced her hands to hold your waist, knowing she loved doing that. “Don’t be so jealous, my beautiful girl. You were busy so I needed to do something to past the time while I couldn’t have you”

She rubbed your thighs and sighed. “Yeji Unnie’s hand seemed too close to you”

“Again, I’m dating you baby. Not Yeji. I’m all yours and you’re alllllll mine~”

“I’m too annoyed to do any of this right now, Y/n. Can you give me some space?” She tried to push you off but you remained seated on her.

“Why are you being like this Yuna? It’s like you don’t trust me at all!”

The tall girl sat up with you still in her lap, face full of anger. “All I asked is for some space. I know it would annoy you if I was going all over some chick in front of you”

“I wasn’t even going all over Yeji! I was just telling her about my stories! Get over yourself for Christ’s sake!” You argued, voice louder than expected.

“It’s the way she kept touching you!”

You knew there was no point in arguing with your girlfriend. Yuna was always anxious of losing you as you are her first ever lover. But you knew one little secret about her:

She adores your breasts.

She always complimented them during heated times in bed so an idea popped into your head.

“Yuna baby..” You softly called out, confusing her.

“What?”

Without a second thought, you lifted your baggy shirt, revealing your boobs to the girl below you. Her eyes went wider than they already were, bottom lip immediately caught between her teeth.

“O-Oh…” she breathed out.

You forced her hand to palm one of your breasts. “Yeji doesn’t get to see these…she doesn’t get to touch them…nor taste them. But you…this is all yours” you whispered, softly sighing as she gently squeezed it.

“Why were we even arguing?” She gulped, looking into your eyes.

“I don’t want us to argue anymore” You told her.

She nodded and hugged you tightly. “I’m sorry baby, i really am. Im so stressed from this course. I didn’t mean to take out my frustration on you. I know Yeji Unnie means well…”

“I know you’re stressed. It’s time to relax and forget about that stuff in the meantime. How about…” You trailed off, tracing your index finger from her jawline to her collarbone.

“…I help you forget about the homework?”

Yuna smirked at your tone. “Oh yeah? Show me what you got, Princess”

[myloveforhergoeson]

ash's june 2024 reading round up

find all the books and fics i read this month under the cut with a link to the synopsis and my reviews/ratings attached :)

this is just for fun! i'm not a professional, i just like to read <3

booklist:!

Book Lovers by Emily Henry (18+!)

• big emily henry fan here, i've read most of her other books and i just picked up her new one. this one, in comparison to the other ones i've read, was in my opinion, just kind of middle ground. it wasn't as amazing as i was expecting and it wasn't bad, i just don't think this was the book for me. about a literary agent, nora, and her rival - a brooding editor for a major company she works with, charlie - both being displaced from their big city life and finding themselves in the same small town for the summer. they keep bumping into one another in sunshine falls after a less than fortuitous business meeting in NYC a few years ago and one thing leads to another. turns out charlie isn't actually as bad as she had thought! perhaps i'm just unread in the small town romance genre, but again, this one wasn't really for me. i didn't feel like charlie and nora really had all that much chemistry. i was actually more interested in their lives separate from each other than how they meshed together oddly enough. a lot of henry's books center around family - more specifically familial grief after the death of a parent - and this book was no exception. the detailed descriptions of nora's past, dealing with the death of her mother and needing to step up to take care of her younger sister, hit really close to home for me as an older sister. learning about the course of her life come to a grinding halt and the two of them learning to pick up the pieces together was beautifully done and had major implications for the turning point of charlie and nora's story. nora and libby were the highlight of this book for me - i loved every single scene between them and i almost wish it was just about these two. charlie on the other hand, is a local of this small town and has a sordid past with many of the individuals there. i didn't like his character all that much personally, he felt kind of flat in general to me, but i did think his interactions with the other local characters was very interesting and i liked that nora had a bit of a puzzle to put together as she stayed in sunshine falls. though she accidentally went out with his cousin - yikes! overall, two very detailed stories coming together to form one that i almost wish were two separate books. romance plot in this one didn't really do it for me and that's okay! i still had a good time reading it :)

i'd recommend beach read or happy place by the same author in place of this one.

• rating 3/5 times i wondered why anyone would want to live in a small town over the city...

2. My Roommate is a Vampire by Jenna Levine (18+)

• yeah i know. guys i know. but what can i say. i'm a simple girl with simple taste and i love vampires. this book wasn't groundbreaking of course but it was soooo fucking funny. loved very moment of it! like what do you mean our fmc cassie just moves in with a random guy who has a wonderful apartment and he's super hot and sexy and he talks and dresses like he's from a different time and he tells you there's a part of your apartment you can never go and he sleeps all day and is out all night and she's just okay with it 😭 girl what if he killed you 😭 anyway. mmc fredrick j. fitzwilliam they can never make me hate you. being alive for almost 400 years is tough, especially when you need someone to teach you the modern ways of life after being asleep for the last century! every time the two of them went everywhere and did something i was like rolling in my seat with laughter. trying to pay for coffee at a hipster coffee shop where the drink names don't actually tell you what's inside? where the sizes are named after planetary phenomenons? where he pulls out a velvet sack of coins and tries to pay with dabloons? god guys it was so funny i can't even begin to put my thoughts of this down on paper. they go to a party so he studies pop culture all night and memorizes taylor swift's entire Wikipedia page???? normally i hate t swift being brought up randomly in modern romance novels (happens way too much IMO) but i'm willing to look past it this time. WHAT DO YOU MEAN SHE STOPPED A KIDNAPPING USING TIKTOK LIKE???? say what you will about my sense of humor but never in a million years did i guess how this book was ending. fucking hilarious and so entertaining and cassie and fredrick are very cute together. honestly the romance was like b plot for me i just thought he was too silly and wanted to know all about what weird shit fredrick was doing that day. again, not the most enlightening or literary force of nature i've ever read but i did have a very very good time. boo me if you want but i'm right <3

•rating: 4/5 times i wished cassie and fredrick wrote more notes to each other

fic list:

i read a lot i'll try to get them all im so sorry if i missed any but i've read, rb'd, and loved them all!!!

assorted works of @partiallypearl:

just another wide-eyed girl, who's desperately in love with you

keep going to the sunrise (put the car in cruise control)

'cause i can't turn to you when it all falls apart

when you love someone that's all you can do

cargan blurb

running to your heart

no notes literally every single one of these was perfect and i'm so lucky to have the privilege of reading them :) james and elisa have been on my mind so much lately, but i also really loved your other works with rhuben and logan and macie. when you love someone that's all you can do is a work of art i wish i could frame it and put it in a museum <3

• assorted works of @icegirl2772

Take a Shot in the Dark

Better than Neil (a GIFT?? for me???)

We Do (But Friends Don't)

my friend... i love your writing so much!! the new chapter if take a shot in the dark is just wonderful, can't wait to reread and leave my comment hehe. better than neil (along with being such a surprise!!) had so much love and care put into it, each section bouncing off of one another was just genius and reading it made me feel so giddy. james and kaelyn are like handmade to be perfect for each other and that story did so well of highlighting that. and we do (but friends don't) !! don't even have words. i love kaelyn and james so much and this fic makes it so clear how they care for each other and want to be cautious of that while still having fun together :) so much raw trust and honesty on display, it's just an incredible (and spicy!) read :) <3

• assorted works of @ceruleanmusings:

• .3

.4

.5

Mason - Band Dynamics

Big Time Confession

.6

.7

Big Time Double Date

desolation pt 1

desolation pt 2

endearment

omg i don't even have words for this incredible selection of works from this month. all of the mickames blurbs were so adorable, confession literally brought me to tears, double date was just hilarious, and endearment made me smile!!! i love how those all balanced out with the emotion and power tucked into both parts of desolation; the switch up really shows how hard relationships can be, even if they seem easy!, and how two people try and get past even the toughest of times together. loved the openness of difficult conversation and how james and mickey managed that together. it felt so true to real life and literally had my stomach wrenching at points. i was so worried for them, and i'm so happy they're working it out! <3 and i always love reading more about the mason band! i love them!! :))

• assorted works of @selangkir

• the girl time rush au

• jucy (no, not that one) story

ohhh my god again and again and again i read girl time rush. literally like twice a month but this month especially i wanted to highlight it bc it served as inspiration for my own little story hehe <3 stories from the perspective of james just kill me i love him so much and i feel like all three parts of girl time rush encapsulate that perfectly. from dealing with a job he didn't really want, to working behind the scenes, to a tumultuous situationship(? kind of. i don't really know what that word means but it feels appropriate) with dak zevon. god every time i read it i love it even more. and the jucy story... such a wonderful switch up of the real story and how it would affect the characters if things went differently! it was so cute, i loved it so much. can't wait to add it to my reread list <3333

• @cant-get-enough-btr-forever 's story Big Time Battle of the Bands

ahh!! i loved this story so much; the only bad thing was having to wait for the chapters to upload and not getting to read it all at once! i know i said this over and over but it truly read like a big time rush episode - you did such a wonderful job of taking the wackiness from the real show and molding it into something if your own. the battle of the bands was such a fun idea and i loved all of the girls and how they mirrored btr! jessica my beloved... it had it all: action, romance, comedy, i couldn't ask for more!!!!

• assorted works of @raging-violets:

• Around the World and Back

such a wonderful story (inspired by a wonderful song!) that put forth the trouble with touring, what happens when it comes to an end, and the toughness of a goodbye. kendall and riley have such a wonderful dynamic that was put on full display with this one! their promise to keep talking when they can (because talking is what they do best!!) was so adorable and i love that they managed to get through their tough time together :)

i believe that's everything but if i missed something IM SO SORRY!

<3333

[king-magnifico-haven]

🌟 Wish: A Disaster? The Worst Disney Movie EVER? Thoughts from a Magnifico Fan 🌟

After watching almost every YouTube review, I was finally able to watch Wish because they turned it on at my office. and do I think it's an absolutely horrible movie? Do I think Asha's the worst Disney heroine ever?

No and no.

Wish isn't a 'bad' movie and Asha isn't the worst Disney heroine ever. Both were just very badly handled.

I know this is a pro Magnifico blog but let me explain. Asha's not a bad character. She's actually very pretty and has a great VA. Her character 'development' was just like crayons scribbling all over paper.

She not only opens the movie happily providing commentary on Magnifico's system, but SINGS ABOUT IT, then demonizes THE SAME SYSTEM she celebrated just MINUTES BEFORE.

Fast forward to the interview. She and Magnifico share a beautiful, heartfelt talk about her father. It's short-lived and not followed up on. Magnifico confides in her about his wish, only for her to completely ignore him and be like 'ey, so like, grant my Saba's wish yo'.

Maui and Moana had a prettier friendship.

Then of course the whole 'hey, Magnifico, I just sang about your Wish system like FIVE MINUTES AGO but I hate you, you're a MEANIE'.

I'm pro Magnifico but you can hate him for all I care. I think you have to admit there's way more heart and substance in Bolt than there was in Wish. There's way more substance in WALL-E and the two main characters BARELY TALK 😭

Then there's Magnifico. I 100% agree with everyone that said his descent into evil happened so quickly, it was rushed and he felt like a completely different character. Amaya did very little to intervene on her husband's behalf. He pretty much went into a panic attack over Star's arrival and had absolutely NO ONE assure him everything was going to be a-okay.

Magnifico made several mentions as to how everything he did was to keep Rosas safe, and prevent the past from repeating itself. Asha even told him 'that's why I want to work with you' but then they fell out because ??? I don't know? PLOT?

The whole thing about Magnifico's spell being unbreakable was BS considering the entire Disney empire was built on the foundation of true love and friendship and blah blah blah.

The people of Rosas were perfectly content before Asha took down Magnifico's system. Her grandfather said so himself right before she sang 'This Wish'. Outside of Simon, there was zero indication of the people living in torment.

Gabo said something about Asha killing her family and I was like 'wut' 😭🤣

Valentino was just there. So was Amaya for the most part, especially in comparison to Disney heroines like Pocahontas, Rapunzel, Mulan, Elena of Avalor (from a tv show), etc

Asha at one point was like 'this is all my fault, I started this', which was correct, then later on said 'this is all Magnifico's fault'

Evil Magnifico got his magic powers but then just used them to poke people. Disney doesn't really do death often but if he was supposed to be like a classic Disney villain...I mean Gaston DID stab the Beast sooo...

Honestly, the two best characters were Magnifico and Dahlia.

Am I saying all of this because I'm a 'poor widdle Magnifico' simp? No. I'm 100% pro Magnifico but I'd have the same opinions even if I hated him. Or didn't care about him. You can fight me on any of this but

Wish isn't a bad movie. Asha's not a bad character.

Both were just badly handled.

[cowboycannibalism]

I seen this 3 weeks ago but I'm barely posting it because I forgot lol work got crazy

okay some immediate thoughts on The Menu (2022), I literally just got out of the theater so it's very fresh and jumbled in my mind. ⚠️some spoilers included⚠️

Definitely a slow start and requires paying attention to little details to really get a read on the individual characters but I really enjoyed that. It makes you uneasy throughout most of it

It could have used a little more gore/blood but honestly the kills that happened were so jarring and unexpected it made up for the lack of blood

my sister ( a person who went to culinary school), and I (a person who went to art school) both enjoyed the aesthetic of the movie very very much! especially the close ups of the individual courses and descriptions that went along with them. they were beautiful and an interesting way to break up scenes

the characters were all so well done in terms of making you not root for them lol. a group of stuck up, rich people who just right off the bat were people I knew I wouldn't like

that being said the casting was wonderful! everyone played their character so well!

Tyler was so annoying! He had hyperfixated vibes at first where it was very relatable that he was so obsessed with the restaurant and the chef and everything. But as the movie went on he treated Margot like shit for not being as interested even though he was fucking paying her!! like bro you just spent half of the beginning of this saying she was so cool and being cutesy with her and also oh yeah she's an escort so quit being a dick you had to pay her to be there!

I will say Tyler's death definitely hurt me in a weird way. Watching Slowik humiliate him in front of everyone and then say something so cruel that he goes to kill himself...oof.

Also Tyler knowing for 8 months about everything!!! fuck dude.

Lilian and Ted were so realistic in the way that food critics(or any high end critics)talk about the dishes put in front of them. They could never just enjoy something, they always had to find the negative, never could be pleased or satisfied because that doesn't make an interesting review

Margot standing up to Slowik and making him make her a cheeseburger because of his past was so beautiful. Her push back to him being both disrespectful and firm while also giving him back that memory of being a line cook at a burger place from his youth. Of reawakening that love of cooking in him for just a moment.

the overall theme of an artist losing their love for their craft not necessarily it being their fault but because of the community that surrounds that medium was very rough for me to watch as an artist. The art world(any form of art) is so full of classicism and the further you get, the more praise you receive, the more known you become, the harsher it is to you. Not for the sake of bettering you or the craft, no its often just a game of egos and money and fame. Slowik had started off a line cook with a love of what he was doing and then to please the community that surrounded him he changed, and the thing that he loved, that he cherished, it became a chore. a punishment.

Everyone had a reason to be there and I can't find any pity for them except maybe the workers in the kitchen.

the scene with the tortillas had me screaming!!! the exposure of the misdeeds was mwah!!!

Also the fact that no one really tried their hardest to get away was really interesting. they protested things happening to them, they screamed and yelled and tried to escape a few times but it never felt frantic, it never felt like they were desperate to live.

that ties into the way that they eventually accept their fate at the end. they know why they're all there and they know it's pointless to fight or scream about their status or offer money/fame/etc.

they also all in their own way had lost their way in life and the whole menu was designed to show them that as well as how they ruined Slowik's love of his art

[cipher-fresh]

Reviews for Skip Haverty: Companion Chronicles #3 (2025) boxset

Disc #1: Water Wars

A toddler could have predicted that the company town owner GoldCircuit was artificially causing the “natural” hundred-year drought, but the civilians looking for, rationing and recycling water is a compelling conflict when Skip and the Doctor get accused of stealing water. More conservative reviewers on YouTube are probably going to call this one “preachy” but countries fighting over clean water, and water poisoned by corporations becomes scarier and closer every year.

Skip’s fish-out-of-water thing goes from social to physical as the planet’s heat starts killing her. This foreshadows how she actually dies later on, too. Ouch. This story also has a folk song about the ground miners looking for water sources. More Paul McGann singing, please! 6.5/10

Disc #2: The One With The Sitcom

Oh my god, I was excited for this one. A mysterious, legally-distinct-from-Star-Trek’s-Q entity feels threatened that the Doctor and Skip will make their worshippers stop following them so they trap the 2 of them in a sitcom with only hazy memories of their lives. Skip and the Doctor encounter illusions of people in their past who have died, now revived as silly sitcom characters. When the two of them wake up to the trap, they can only plan how to escape during commercial breaks.

Really, really fun. They really lean into old sitcom tropes, and the time before the Doctor and Skip come to awareness is just long enough to utilize the concept without getting boring. The fact the reality-manipulating entity only ever speaks through possessing other characters is super creepy, (leaving room for it to be a former villain because we never see their body or hear their real voice!). It also made me kinda sad to see the Doctor considering what a little domestic life would be like living in a sitcom. K9 cameo made me gasp. Funny and incredibly sad all in one. 9.5/10. (Objectively it’s maybe a point lower but like, my ranking. Shut up.)

Disc #3: Flunking Out

A college laboratory experiment goes wrong, creating a space anomaly and trapping a fraternity in their dorm building, where walking out of the front door pits them back into the boiler room. The Doctor and Skip must find the engineering students’ experiment while navigating the maze the university has become, and untangle the engineering department’s backstory.

What a stinker. Fun premise but boring execution, which is worse than confusing execution. 4/10.

I loved The One With The Sitcom but thought the other two were just okay. If you can do one of those bundle packs I might recommend you buy it but in other cases, just pirate the second one. Paul McGann is especially great, though, and I’m always up for more Skip.

[angelasscribbles]

2023 Wrap

Since there was no Tumblr year in review this time around, I made my own! Ok, full disclosure, I was already going to make my own. For some reason I started tracking everything I posted back at the beginning of the year and last week I totaled things up just for my own information but then I thought…why not share it?

I’m only including fandom stuff here because I do not want to attempt to figure out how many posts I’ve put together for my other lists (Writer’s Corner, ADHD Stuff, Poly Stuff) but my most popular post was this ADHD one. It has over 90,000 notes and is still climbing.

2023 Tumblr Choices Fandom Wrap......

Stats at a glance:

Chapters posted: 125

Extras Posted: 91

Teasers Posted: 7

Updates Posted: 8

Throwbacks Posted: 12

Original Fiction Posted: 1

Series Launched: 12

Series Wrapped: 6

Events Ran: 19

Live Discussions Hosted (Word Warriors): 4

Blogs Launched: 9

New Projects Started: 6

Personal Milestones Passed: 3

Details and commentary under the cut.

Series that launched in 2023:

In Your Room (Dreo)

A Fervid Fixation

The Crown and the Shield

Victim of Love

Mardi Gras Mayhem

One Night in Cordonia

Law’s End

The De Facto Queen

The Dark Kingdom

Cordonian Royal Airlines

Queen of Hearts

Insurrection

Series that wrapped in 2023:

In Your Room (Dreo)

A Fervid Fixation

The Crown and the Shield

Victim of Love

Mardi Gras Mayhem

One Night in Cordonia

Blogs Launched:

TRR Visuals

Angela’s Reblogs

Law’s End

Word Warriors

TRR Poly

TRR Scribbles

TRR Bad Romance

TRR One Shots

Cordonian Royal Airlines

Events Ran in 2023:

Drake Walker Appreciation blog:

Drake Walker Appreciation Week

World Whiskey Day

Drake’s Birthday

Maxwell Beaumont Appreciation blog:

Maxwell Beaumont Appreciation Week

Max’s Birthday

Choices Prompts:

Story Starter Prompt 4

Story Starter Prompt 5  

Mardi Gras Mayhem (Collaborative Fiction)

Round Robin 1 (there will be more)

Rewrite Challenge

August Catch Up Event

Smutember

Flufftober

Holiday Rewrite Challenge

Choice Holidays:

Valentines Day

Spring Holidays

Festival of Fears

Second Annual Winter Holidays

Fics of Christmas Past

Projects:

Reorganized all visuals, sorted by story and published in one place (TRR Visuals)

Recently Posted and Chapter Archive (Angela’s Reblogs)

Saturday Surveys (Angela’s Reblogs)

Law’s End (See note below)

Word Warriors (see below)

Cordonian Royal Airlines (see below)

Law’s End: I call this a project, not just a new story because it was supposed to be a bit more far-reaching than just a story with character profiles, mock news articles, and multiple episodes. So far there are two character profiles (graphics for that by @harleybeaumont), one article, and many fabulous extras made by @secretaryunpaid. I am working on wrapping up episode one. Once the question of who killed Trent is answered, episode two will move on to a new mystery, while still focusing on the relationships between the main characters.

Word Warriors: Again, this is more than just a blog. It’s a Discord group, live discussions, a peer support group, and a critique group. The blog itself provides a list of writing resources and advice in addition to information about the Discord group, the live discussion schedule, and notes from past sessions.

Cordonia Royal Airlines: This is more of a collaborative project than a series. There will eventually be images posted as well as drabbles, one-shots, and chapters written by other contributors. (That’s the plan anyway.)

Personal Milestones Passed:

1,000 followers (now over 1,400 but waiting to hit 1,500 to post it)

1,000,000 words posted on Tumblr.

Published my first book in February.

Blog Shut Down:

Who could forget the infamous blog shutdown of 2023? It went down on July 25th and didn’t come back up until August 29th. Well, maybe everyone but me could forget it. I was in withdrawal lol. Five weeks of being mostly off Tumblr forced me to examine and reevaluate a lot of things. And even though I was thrilled to finally be unblocked, things aren’t the same. And that’s okay. Things change, life marches on.

I am by no means saying I’m out of here. Never fear. As long as I have fanfiction to write, I suppose I’ll be posting it here. I just feel less and less like working on my TRR stuff. I still want to finish the series I’ve started, and I’ve found I still have plenty of ideas for one-shots or short miniseries, but I’m not sure I have another epic, long TRR saga in me. Who knows, though? I’ve said that before and been proven wrong. I don’t control when inspiration happens or where the muse takes me.

I don’t know the fate of all those side blogs yet. Since I recently reorganized my master list, (yet again), I don’t know that they are needed. For now, they will remain as basically parking lots. Just a different way to organize my content.

The Rest of Tumblr:

2023 was the year I finally figured out how Tumblr works! I now understand the phrase shitposting on main. I discovered the rest of Tumblr, not just this little corner of it. From Goncharov to other fandoms to the existence of entire communities that I belong wholeheartedly to: Queer, neurodivergent, polyamorous, writers, etc. I found my people on this hell site.

What’s Next:

The Choices fandom will always have a special place in my heart, and I have made real, lifelong friends here and for that, I’ll always be grateful. My just over two years here have had their ups and downs for sure, but the ups far outweigh the downs. (If they didn’t, I would have left long ago).

I’m still working on the following TRR series:

Heir Apparent

Savage Love

The De Facto Queen

Royal Retribution

Queen of Hearts

Unexpected

Law’s End

Insurrection

Dark Elf

The Dark Kingdom

American Girl

Bad Parenting

Leo and Liv

Some are closer to done than others and there are a few that I just haven’t had any inspiration or excitement for in a while. I also have many one-shots in process.

And @harleybeaumont got me to play Heaven's Secret (#romanceclub) and not going to lie, no choose your own adventure story has grabbed my attention like this since TRR. And yes, there is already a folder marked “Heaven’s Secret” on my laptop with three WIPs in it!

Then there’s my original fiction. Long before I found Tumblr and got bitten by the fanfic bug, I was posting flash fic on my own website, saving short stories for submission to anthologies, and working on a few different original novels. I want to get back to that. Not to mention a lifetime worth of poetry that needs to be sorted, organized, and published.

All of the above may have to be put on hold as I navigate life with constant volleyball tournaments, a continuing search for the right second career, and a burgeoning business to manage and contend with. Not to mention a five-year-old with high energy, high needs, and high sensory-seeking behaviors. Life is complex on the best days.

Meanwhile, I’ve found that I really enjoy running the discussions for Word Warriors, giving feedback on other people’s work, and helping other writers on their journey. I can’t wait to get back to that in January.

I don’t know what 2024 holds but I am wishing the best for each and every one of you. Let life’s adventures continue!

Happy New Year everyone!!

[machiavellli]

I watched the two first episodes of 𝓣𝓱𝓮 𝓐𝓬𝓸𝓵𝔂𝓽𝓮 and I got thoughts:

SPOILERS BELOW

First of all I just would like to say that most of the negative reviews that I saw where pretty thrown around just beacuse haters can’t help themself. So I don’t think this is the “worst sw product ever1!1!”, but I do got some (constructive) criticism myself and I want to express MY opinions (I am allowed to have and share them).

Let’s start with the positive aspects of this show

Fighting scenes and choreographies:

I was really impressed by the actions sequences. I’m glad that at least in this aspect Star Wars (after whatever happened in the sequels) is putting more effort in creating more impressive fighting scenes, but in the specific lightsaber fights!

Even if, yes, the lightsabers haven’t been used as much as I hoped, I still found this fighting style really mesmerizing. Now I’m not a martial art expert, so I won’t comment on that, but I just want to say that I do find this style way more appropriate than actually using a lightsaber all the time. It just makes sense for a Jedi of that time to minimize their usage of their weapon. They are at a high point of history, there is no war, just (apparent) peace.

I was afraid that the jumps would weird me out, but I gotta say that I liked them!!

How they showcased the temple and the characterization of the Jedi:

First thing first: ANOTHER LIVE ACTION TEMPLE OTHER THAN THE ONE IN THE CAPITAL???? Miracle!!! (Even if the interior design was questionable but I think they are just very isolated jedis and that’s their style? Idk man, there was literal sand in a corner tho??)

I appreciated how they showed Jedis as humans.

Sol is a jedi at heart yes, he is clearly suffering at the idea of his former padwan in such position, but he stays focused. Also I do get the comparison with Qui Gon, especially at the end of episode 2 when he tries to stick to the hunt, going against the council decision, but he still follows their leading in the end. But anyway, do not attack my new Star Wars father figure‼️

Yord also has his heart in the right place, I’m sure of it, he just wishes to help, but it’s clear that in this desperate search for perfection (brotha quoted the code by memory and was ironing his clothes for AN OUTSIDE MISSION💀 ) he might be losing what being a Jedi actually means. He always being the one to reach his lightsaber first :(( I’m really interested in seeing his development!

Jecki my smart girl, please humble Yord more often, that was the funniest part in the two episodes. I just want to say that her being 18 and going on her FIRST mission is so special and heartbreaking for me, just think the comparison with Ahsoka becoming a soldier at 14.

I also really liked the fact that the two Jedis killed got killed by their own compassion. Perfect.

Osha character:

Maybe it’s obvious, maybe not, but IN MY OPINION (so far) she is the best written character of the whole show (this actually comes from a critic that I have about the writing of the show, but it’s not the case for this character!)

Maybe it’s also that she is genuinely so sweet for me, I DONT KNOW I GET THIS VIBE FROM HER OKAY?? But she is the character I enjoyed the most in those first two episodes.

It’s just that I feel like we got to see only one side of the other characters, while with Osha she already feels like a well rounded character. We see her in various situations, in various states of mind, from the fear and then the calm of meeting her former master, to being taken by the negative feelings, the rage, she still preserves from her past. It was a great spectrum.

Also she was standing way more out as her own character than any one else in the show (see writing criticism below) and I liked that.

The actress was often carrying the show when put side to side with the other characters. (I’m under the impression that not everyone was giving their best performance tbh…but Amandla Stenberg was great!)

Really interested to see how the whole trauma/I just found my presumed dead twin alive/the Jedis I left are back thing will play out of her.

Also shoutout to Star Wars for continuing the tradition of the main character with a new cute droid. Gotta be one of my favourite tropes 🙏

Love this duo<333

In between opinions

I’m not going to comment on the plot YET, I find that it’s too early, but I was surprised by the decision of reveling the twin plot right away?

I was expecting it to be one the main thing that they would dance around for the whole series, but maybe I was under the wrong impression. It’s just that it felt rushed. But that’s a problem that comes down the fact that those episodes are TOO SHORT!!

I wasn’t also pleased by the fact that MASTER Indara died with that tiny knife in her chest. Like okay, maybe it was directly through the heart, but still: it doesn’t feel justified. Star Wars needs to decide a common trajectory, we can have people that survive a light saber in their stomach and others that die from far less concerning attacks. Also Osha surviving a terrible crash without a scratch?? Uhm.

Fire in space, gotta be my favorite mistake in space fiction products🙏 (I know that math and physics ain’t USA favorite subjects but cmonnnnnn, even Star Trek did this and uh😭😭). But anyway, I wouldn’t count it as this big mistake that everyone is freaking out about, because again, it’s common (somehow), and also was need for the trauma moment. 👍

But…25 MILIONS for episode, 12’500$ PER SECOND. We could have done better uh🧍‍♀️

And on this last bitter tone…

Negative aspects (it was bound to happen sorry)

The writing:

I have two main bones to pick at:

The quality of the lines,

Every character (besides Osha) is missing a speech pattern, some characterization…

I personally found the their speech to be not as cured as I was hoping for a show that had 4 years of development.

“Attach me with all of your strength” I literally heard in my head: 🦗🦗🦗

Sorry but some of Mae lines especially weren’t it (kinda funny when I actually enjoyed Osha’s)

Also yes, the characters were missing characterization through the dialogue, which is pretty crucial when you are showcasing brand the characters that no one knows. I just wished they weren’t so flat in that aspect.

I especially had a weird feeling with Sol, I do like him, but some of the lines weren’t it. I think it was also a bit the delivery, but I don’t want to attack the actor.

I wish their words were more expressive. Painted by their personality.

The poem was okay, this one ⬇️

I found it cute, but nothing too crazy

(Also side note that I don’t know where to put: the little twin looked like the Snapchat baby filter. Idk you can’t change my mind😭)

Also the pace of the storytelling per se: it felt rushed but at the same time slow, because I’m sorry but the delivering was a tad boring. I was expecting more.

To sum up: I was expecting more (I’ll say this till the end 180M budget) from the writing 🧍‍♀️

Costumes:

Before you all attack me: I did liked them, but with that budget I was expecting more. Let me explain

I really liked that they changed clothes when they went outside, leaving the white and yellow for the more ceremonials acts (like studying) for then changing for the outside. I loved that touch. In particular Yord attire in his first scenes was so good

I like their outfit so much (I hope the dope Padawan returns btw🧎‍♀️)

But, because there is a but, there is something weird about their clothings.

Now, I know that I am a prequels apologist and all, but you see how well clothes fit there:

They look realistic here, garments that have been actually worn

It’s just that their clothes look like they are sitting on them (have you in mind when people say “oh this foundation is sitting on my face” yeah in that sense, in the sense that doesn’t melt well)

NOOO IVE FINISHED THE GIFS LIMIT. TUMBLR UGH- (no more cool gifs guys😔)

It’s not a huge problem, but I wanted to say it regardless.

The set and lighting:

It’s just that for that type of budget and for that amount of time I was expecting some cinematic level of show. Maybe my bad (again), but the set looked often plastic and the lighting wasn’t really helping either.

Some scenes were well done: the ones in the Coruscant temple, the shore and in the bar/restaurant at the beginning were well done.

But especially the set in the second episode did not impress me at all.

Final thoughts:

Thanks Star Wars for making BTS canon🙏🙏 (THE TATTOO TOOK ME OUT OK?)

It’s hard to judge on just those two episodes, I feel like they haven’t told much, but for now I can only say that I will keep watching, without expecting too much (even if I should given the cost of the show).

I was interested in this project because I was excited to see the high republic in live action, but I don’t think this show will portray the typical high republic type of Jedis, something in between. I just hope that for once they will treat the jedi nicely because they can’t ever take a break in this franchise uh😭

Also I got a question…because if the Sith have been extinct for a millennium, according to the Jedi in the movies, by the time of the phantom menace…how will all of this play out??

Will they all die and the Jedis will just hide the evidence? But what about Yoda (or Yaddle)? Okay that he is chilling away but doesn’t make much sense…anyway I think I’ll have my answer by the end of the show.

Overall vote: 6/10 (a tad more than sufficient, I’m not feeling generous tonight🧍‍♀️)

It’s not a bad show, absolutely, I was just expecting more. It still has time to redeem itself!

[waeirfaahl]

Some my thoughts about the demons and shadow spirits and also the deep conflict in "The Birth of Evil"

Finally, after long editing of a big review and finishing (finally) I have a time for another post... It is astounding to me that I still manage to find interesting moments in the classic Samurai Jack. Okay, it is the "Two themes in one article" kinda of posts. The first thing that came to my mind — these shadow guardians and also demonic spirits, flying near Aku's castle in 1 episode of 1 season.

If the shadow guardians can be seen in the future (8 episode of 4 season), the demonic spirit guardians are absent in this future (or we see some similar spirits in 10 episode of 4 season in desert).

So, who are they? I think that they were inspiration for humans' beliefs (at least, Jack's ancestors). And I find it interesting that before Aku's birth even these shadows and demonic spirits weren't on the fragment's (aka the black lake's) territory — they clearly were afraid to be on its territory.

As well as when Emperor imprisoned Aku, there's no shadows or demonic spirits in the wasteland.

I have two versions of explanation, and they can both work. So, some part of these spirits hid from humans, and some part of them could be imprisoned somewhere, but Aku later (after he conquered Jack's kingdom) discovered and gave to them freedom, so that's why they are so loyal to him — they respect him, 'cause he gave them freedom, also 'cause he is way stronger than them and 'cause he kicked butts to humans. And Aku basically considers himself as the true heir to rule Earth, as well as these shadows and demonic spirits could think the same way. But here's another interesting moment. Now we come to the second thing. Although I made many posts with deep analyzing of Aku, his tragedy and also "The Birth of Evil" (and also about debunking various fan-theories and about how 5 season disgraces and erases Aku, his tragedy and the canon of the classic seasons and also makes impossible the starting point of the conflict and the story of "Birth of Evil" and the classic seasons — like, for f*cking real, by the logic of 5 season even before Aku's birth there would already be demonic mutants/hybrids instead of humans, and the fragment aka the black lake wouldn't consider them as threat or intruders on its territory, hence after his birth Aku would have loyal and friendly society that accepted him, he wouldn't experience the pain and betrayal from Emperor, so the story would go to absolutely different events and path), I never discussed about the depth of "Birth of Evil". Too bad that the crew tries to make audience feel "Oh, bad black thing against poor innocent humans" and gives only subtle sad scenes with the "black abomination". Now about the conflict in "The Birth of Evil". If to watch the dilogy without any bias, you can notice really interesting conflict. The conflict of the two kinds — humankind and ancient entity for the life on Earth, where both sides simply wanted to survive and to live. Humans wanted to live happily and to make families and considered the black fragment as something bad and dangerous. While the black entity (Aku's ancestor), its fragment and then Aku were rejected by the world and marked as the ultimate evil. Aku's ancestor only arose from the star and literally did nothing, but immediately was killed by those three alien gods.

The half-dead fragment of the ancestor fell on Earth and lived in the certain territory, wanting to be left alone, but was considered as the evil by humans, who invaded its territory and even wanted to kill the fragment.

Then Jack's father in attempt to kill the fragment ("the evil") accidentally created Aku and rejected him, so Aku started to terrorize the world for numbing the inner pain and emptyness he can't let go.

That's truly the tragedy. P.S. Also, I like, how Aku identifies himself with the future Jack so wants to destroy "Now the fool seeks for return to the past and undo the future that is Aku!".

[vaulthunterlands]

NEW TALES FROM THE BORDERLANDS: A REVIEW

Alright alright I gotta do this because I put off playing this game for nearly two years and finally binged it yesterday. SO, obviously, spoilers ((FOR ALL FIVE EPISODES)) will be discussed and I highly recommend watching or playing the game first (price tag is a little steep) if you want to experience it firsthand. I also wanna say: this is just my opinion! If you didn't care for the game, that's fine! Just be respectful please :)

Continuing under the cut!

I'll give you a TLDR right up front in case you don't feel like reading this: It was okay. It's not a stellar game, but it's far less egregious than people were saying. I'd say it's probably my least favorite game in the series, but that doesn't mean I didn't enjoy it.

CHARACTERS:

ANU: First of three player characters you're introduced to, and I thought she was really charming in that awkward nerd sort of way. I think it was interesting to have a character so vehemently opposed to killing as a Borderlands protagonist, but I liked what they did with that aspect of her character. I will be honest that I was a bit unsure how to feel about the whole "shard possession" plot point, especially when Anu is in the coma, but I think seeing her try to reevaluate herself as a person while in that coma was an interesting way to tackle subjects like regretting the past, and wishing you'd said something else. I did choose to reject the shard at the end, and I also got the ending where everyone lived, and I think that's a really good way to wrap up Anu's story.

OCTAVIO: I'll level with you guys. Way back when I saw the trailer for New Tales, I already didn't care for Octavio. My assumption was that he was going to be your typical dumb, annoying "comic relief" character. And, I mean, he kind of is? But he does have more than that. He's a genuinely sweet guy who's trying his best, and the jokes they made with him did make me laugh occasionally, but sometimes I got secondhand embarrassment from listening to him. (I have to point out that I get that with all the Borderlands games at certain points, so I really can't put this as a point against Octavio). I thought the ways he found solutions to situations were interesting (the whole "holding the talking gun to his head because Coldwell wanted him alive" was a really funny and creative bit imo), but then sometimes they'd have him be like... too stupid??? (Spending their money on the exact place they left felt... interestingly dumb LOL) Overall I didn't nearly dislike him as much as I expected to, and seeing the sibling bond between him and Anu mend over time was sweet.

FRAN: Okay. Alright folks. I'll be honest. When I first started the game? I wasn't a fan. The anger controlling stuff was interesting (I managed to not squish the sponsor-bot early on in the game), but I just didn't get a great vibe from Fran? She's extremely flirty in-game with a ton of characters and it kind of just gave me whiplash. I got used to it as the game went on but I was often squinting at my screen like "huh?" I thought her hoverchair was pretty sweet though--super interesting way for her to fight, as well as using the Pre-Sequel cryo+melee damage combo! I will say, she grew on me as I played, but the time when I really started to like her was with her backstory reveal. In episode 4, they explain why she doesn't use the "crazy mode" on her hoverchair anymore (after kind of alluding to it all game) and it was surprisingly heartfelt to hear this strong woman bare her trauma like that. (P.S. the 8-bit section was so cool I will die on this hill). Anyway, I think Fran is pretty cool in my book even if some of her dialogue did make me double-take.

L0U13: L0U13!!!! I LOVED HIM!!!!! L0U13 was a really cool character on many levels. Firstly, he's a robot and I love robot characters. Secondly, the whole idea of an "assassination bot" makes perfect sense in the Borderlands series, though I was perplexed by the caveat of him having to hear the victim's name first. I still thought it was a really interesting plot point, though! I loved how he became closer and closer to the team as the game went on, and you know when I had the opportunity I said he was part of the team. Also may have cried when he died on the Tediore ship. (Though I got the ending where he's rebuilt and I popped off so hard when he appeared). Overall I love L0U13 and he needs to appear in future games.

SUSAN: Hoo boy. Oh man. Susan... I liked her a lot as an antagonist. Overall, she is a pretty standard corporate baddie (iirc I read she was designed as a polar opposite of Wainwright, I.E. she doesn't care about commoners or the poor) but when her plan was revealed, I was shocked. The idea that you could not only kill someone but then revive them and repeat the process over and over until their spirit is broken resonated with me. I was like "oh shit this is BAD." Needless to say I was definitely not expecting when she basically GLASSED PROMETHEA WITH THE DEATH RAY. But overall, I think she was a good antagonist and it felt so good having Fran punch the shit out of her.

SIDE CHARACTERS

PHUONG: I really liked her!! She was cute and funny and WHAT HAPPENED TO HER WHY DIDN'T THEY BRING HER BACK AAAAAA

BADASS SUPERFAN: Hilarious. Genuinely smiled every time he showed up. I really enjoyed the Vaultlander stuff and I thought him just showing up in random places was peak Borderlands humor. Fantastic, 10/10.

BROCK: Another banger (get it? Because he's a gun. He's a g) of a character. Talking guns always have potential in the franchise and I think they knocked it out of the park with this little shooting-crazed guy. When Octavio was in prison and he was like "STOP BEING DEPRESSED" I laughed pretty hard.

STAPLEFACE: GOD I LOVED STAPLEFACE!!!!! SHE'S SO SILLY AND SHE JUST WANTED TO PROTECT THE PRETTY LADY WHY COULDN'T ANU HEAL HER WHY WHY WHY WHY WHY

The Elephant in the room

Okay so the healing crystal. Obviously pretty big implications for being to revive people but at the end of my playthrough, it kind of just fucked off into space. And I think they should leave it like that! I think this kind of power was okay for a one-off story, but I think it risks making the events of the series as a whole inconsequential. As much as I love Roland, I wouldn't want to see him revived. That moment in BL2 was so visceral and powerful that it made you want to kill Jack even more, so to have him revived would kind of ruin that, for me at least. Idk. I think they should leave the crystal out of future installments.

CONCLUSION:

I'm probably forgetting some stuff to write about the game because I was up super late playing it and thinking about it but I'll reiterate that it was nowhere near as bad as it was made out to be. Definitely the worst in the series, definitely a mediocre game overall, but there were some really good plot points and funny scenes. If you don't want to drop the money on it, I'd suggest watching a playthrough if you want to. No pressure! I just think it's interesting as a game.

[bookaddict24-7]

REVIEWS OF THE WEEK!

Books I’ve read so far in 2023!

Friend me on Goodreads here to follow my more up to date reading journey for the year!

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116. How To Sell A Haunted House by Grady Hendrix--⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Man, I love Grady Hendrix.

I never know what I'm going to get with his books. When I started HOW TO SELL A HAUNTED HOUSE, I wasn't sure if I was really into it. The start was a little bit on the slower side and I wasn't sure how I felt about the sibling dynamic.

Then I put the book down and read some other things. I think I wasn't in the right head space for it, so I eventually picked it up again a couple of months later. And I'm so glad I tried again!

This book made me laugh probably a few too many times considering it's horror, but those puppets (especially the main one) was absolutely hilarious. If you do audiobooks, I highly recommend listening to the one for this book, especially because you'll get the pleasure of hearing the voice actor do the puppet's voice--that catcall of his in particular. Man, that was funny.

But much like Hendrix's other works, one moment you're either mad or laughing, and the next you'll feel like you need to throw up. There are some seriously gruesome bits in this. If you're into that, you'll saw right through the pages.

This book had me feeling so many emotions and somehow, even after the worst (I thought it was the worst part), there were still four hours left in the audiobook. Those were some creepy and fast paced hours as the story raced towards a satisfying conclusion. Listen, I cried at the end. If that's not a rollercoaster of emotions, I don't know what is.

While it might not have been my favourite Hendrix book (HORRORSTÖR will always be my favourite), this was a fun one that might make you laugh, squirm with disgust, and cry. Especially fun to recommend this to people who have a phobia of dolls and/or puppets.

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117. The 39 Clues: The Sword Thief by Peter Lerangis--⭐️⭐️

Okay, aha, this series is written by different authors and...it shows.

Off the bat, I was slightly uncomfortable. From some of the jokes used (one sibling calling the other "Jackie Chan" because they were going to Japan when Jackie isn't even Japanese...), to the uncomfortable idea that one of the siblings is falling for her cousin. I get that it was alluded to in earlier books, but it was more like a "he's attractive and I have social anxiety" but seeing them flirt in this book was....kind of weird LOL.

I know these are older books and while I did enjoy the adventure parts (and the cunning ways these family members outdo each other), there were some things I couldn't get past. I'll keep reading the series because I'm both curious about the mystery and because another author will write the next book.

Onto the next one!

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118. Night of the Living Dummy by R.L. Stine--⭐️⭐️

I wanted to enjoy this one, but I know GOOSEBUMP books can be super hit or miss. This is such a popular book in the series, so I was hoping for...more? But there was so much wrong with this one. The competing twins were frustrating, but they're kids. I can understand their competition.

What I don't understand is the horrible parents. I know this is from a kid's perspective, so maybe we are seeing an inflated response from the parents, but that mother was a piece of work. What an impatient and disconnected woman. Listen, if my kid told me their doll was moving on its own, I'd be spraying holy water on it instead of yelling at them. Just, such questionable parenting. There's a reason why so many kids never want to tell their parents anything.

"Why don't they call me anymore?" Because when Billy told you that his puppet was trying to kill him, you didn't believe him. JK. It's not that serious, but it's sad to see that so many people in my generation grew up reading about parents like this.

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119. Our Shadows Have Claws by Various--⭐️⭐️⭐️

I have mixed feelings about this collection. I never really pick up anthologies because I need my stories to be thicker than just a few pages, although I can fully appreciate the mastery of writing a powerful story a short number of pages long. But while there were definitely some knockout stories in this collection (in my opinion), there were some misses, too.

I went into this hoping to be spooked! I'm Latina, so seeing a Latine collection of horror stories made me incredibly excited (even with my apprehension for short stories). While the stories may not have been what I was hoping for, the artwork was gorgeous and creepy. I'll definitely be keeping this collection on my shelves both because it's amazing Latine rep, and because it's just a beautiful book aesthetically.

I've broken down the stories with my individual ratings and very short thoughts:

The Nightingale and the Lark: 3 Stars

I enjoyed seeing a story about the complicated dynamic of family and tradition. I'm kind of sad this is the Cuban one--but don't mind me, this is just me being a city bitch. I had no idea what this monster was and neither did my parents, but I'm assuming it's a campo monster. That being said, this was a pretty solid story to start with....but not scary. At all. It WAS interesting to see the morality living in the shadows of beliefs and fear.

¿Dónde Está el Duende?: 4 Stars

I think this is one of my favourites of the whole collection. It was so sinister and more than the monster itself, the actions of the humans involved made this one extra spooky. I remember thinking about it once it ended and feeling so uncomfortable when all of the pieces clicked together.

El Viejo de la Bolsa: 2 Stars

Meh. I feel like I zoned out with this one. I was so confused and by the end of the story, I had no idea what I'd just read. (This happens a few times with some of the stories in the collection.)

Beware the Empty Subway Car: 1.5 Stars

Honestly, this title was kind of misleading. There were some cool places this story could have gone but it was so boring. And it felt like...the point of the story was kind of random? Especially because it read more like one chapter in a bigger book. No shade to the authors, but it felt like the point of this story being included in this collection was missed. All backstory, barely any spooks. Meh. Least favourite, lowest rating.

Dismembered: 4 Stars

Having just lost my Abuela last December, this hella pulled on my heartstrings. Emotional and with a deeply heartbreaking twist, Dismembered is rightfully a favourite for a lot of other readers. Even if the beginning of the story feels gruesome, the heart of the story is beautiful.

Blood Kin: 4 Stars

I LOVE revenge stories. I was immediately hooked and I'm a sucker for the bad guy getting his due justice. Also, another heartstring puller. These authors giving me the spooks with a side of heartbreak. Thanks.

La Boca Del Lobo: 2 Stars

So, I *listened* to the audiobook of this collection. I have this thing where if a book isn't keeping my attention, then it's not a book I'm enjoying. When I'm invested, I am listening with both ears and hoping to catch everything. This story had me so disinterested that I had to replay the whole thing again because I missed the whole thing. The second time around wasn't any better.

Bloodstained Hands Like Ours: 2 Stars

While I loved the LGBTQ+ rep, I wasn't really feeling this one. It had a weird ending that made me think of superheroes. Much like the Subway Car story, this felt like a lot of backstory and not enough main creep story.

The Boy from Hell: 3.5 Stars

This was a fun one and felt like it could have been its own book. I especially loved how this story touches on the racism that lives in the Latine community. Also, even though I saw the twist a mile away, it was still fun to see.

La Patasola: 4 Stars

Loved the LGBTQ+ rep in this and how it forces the reader to see how ignorance and falling to peer pressure can ruin something so beautiful. I kind of wish I had more of this story so I could see the outcome of the events that happen. I really enjoyed this one. The ending was very satisfying.

The Other Side of the Mountains: 4 Stars

I think this one is a perfect example of backstory being well-balanced with the heart of the story. That twist was *chef's kiss*.

La Madrina: 3 Stars

I don't think this is a monster story. I think it's a great morality story that was well written and paced, but I think to call this a monster story does the heart of it a disservice. But I guess, in a way, it brings to question what we might define a monster to be.

Sugary Deaths: 3.5 Stars

This had a very satisfying ending for a creepy man who should not be around younger girls. This is one of those stories where you have to ask yourself, "Who's the real monster here?"

Leave No Tracks: 4 Stars

I loved this one because of how powerful it was. I thought it was a great allegory for the erosion of family and nature, and how the consequences of our choices can haunt us long after the choice has been made.

The Hour of the Wolf: 4 Stars

Probably one of my favourites overall. I love a good story with Karma and this one DELIVERED. Also, something I've noticed in this one and in some of the other stories is the importance of the all-knowing Abuela. Loved the creepy wolf vibes and the bullies facing some twisted revenge.

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120. Help! We Have Strange Powers! by R.L. Stine--⭐️⭐️

This was pure chaos.

While I really enjoyed the last Horrorland book I listed to, this one was just too much. The production level felt like it was too much. And don't even get me started on these awful main characters. Also, this was another book with twins. LOL Stine had a trope.

I AM intrigued, however, about what is happening in Horrorland--I think that's the best part of these books.

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121. Red-Headed Stepchild by Jaye Wells--⭐️⭐️⭐️

Wow, I can't believe I finally finished this book that I started a year and a bit ago. I never thought this day would come LOL.

I think one of the reasons why I kept putting this one down is because it felt like a slower read--which is why I'm so happy my library got the audiobook edition! That definitely helped, although there were still instances where my brain zoned out because the story never really fully hooked me.

The mystery and intrigued was interesting--I wanted to see what twists and turns waiting for me as the MC navigated the truths being thrown at her. It makes me sort of fascinated enough to read the sequel, but I'm not fully sold on that yet.

One of the things I did love about this series is that it did have that fun early 2000s-2010s vibes that contemporary fantasy had, a la SOOKIE STACKHOUSE & the FIRST GRAVE ON THE RIGHT series (but without the spiciness, just the tension.)

Other than the occasional slow pace, this was fun and I think would be a fun read for anyone who likes badass MCs taking over their own narrative after so many others have done it for them.

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122. Yellowface by R.F. Kuang--⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Pardon my French, but this book is a mindfuck.

I'm kind of freaked out about how good Kuang is at making you face your own mind when you're given an anti-hero MC who sometimes had you empathizing with her, and then abruptly remembering how awful they actually are. Granted, none of the characters in this book were the shitting rainbows kind of characters. These were characters that dangerously resembled the actual nature of so many people out there--people who you may know, or may have encountered. Those people who think they've been wronged and who think other groups get undeserved preferential treatment.

Other than this being a phenomenal commentary on the publishing industry, this is just such a fascinating exploration of the human condition and how biases can truly make us believe the things we believe--even when the rest of the world is pointing out how wrong your actions are. Also, Kuang shows us the dangers of having heavily unreliable narrators. The power of writing is sometimes having you empathize with the worst characters.

Trigger warning, though, for incredibly blasé racism and discussion of under-representing racism in history to make a story more palatable. Those scenes where the MC is editing the stolen manuscript were probably some of the harder ones for me because I KNOW there are editors and people in publishing who would think the same way.

Kuang is a genius and even though I wasn't a fan of THE POPPY WAR, YELLOWFACE & BABEL will forever remain as some of my favourites because of their blunt and incredible discussions on race and inequality.

I can't recommend this book enough. I do recommend doing it with a glass of wine...or something stronger. Just don't make any Pandan pancakes to eat along with this book.

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123. You're Not Supposed to Die Tonight by Kalynn Bayron--⭐️⭐️⭐️

I will immediately say that while this had some fun moments and commentary on what it means to be a Black person in a horror setting, this book wasn't at all what I was expecting--and I don't mean that in a good way.

I really enjoyed seeing the MC and her strong connection with her girlfriend. That in itself felt like it was defying the horror genre stereotypes. I also loved the jabs at what we usually see in horror books (like couples having sex will always be like a dinner bell being rung for serial killers at killer camps).

Overall, this book had its creepy moments, weird twists, and an interesting ending. But I was hoping for...more. This felt like it didn't go where I was hoping it would go and it ended up just being an okay read.

I'm giving it three stars instead of two because while it wasn't what I was hoping for, it was still a fun read that I'd recommend to anyone wanting a slasher read.

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Have you read any of these books? Let me know your thoughts!

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Happy reading!

[promisinininining]

post project rambling

blood spills over is finished!

The whole thing has been planned from the beginning, but the exact scope of it kept creeping and creeping until it went form something I thought I could finish in around 5k words, to 10k, to 20k, at which point I gave up trying to estimate the length it would end up at. The last part (five of pentacles, reversed) ended up being longer than the previous parts added together, sitting at 26 out of 47k. Oops! That's longer than the previous longest fic I'd written on its own! It was only supposed to be a little thing to tide us over until the final part but ,,. uh, well, I got carried away a little. I had only written parts 1 and 2 before I started posting, and at that point I thought I was mostly done, so I thought it was safe to do so. (As an addendum, I did start posting because of my cute little stalker digging up my old accounts and sending abuse to those inboxes, where I hadn't closed anon off yet, so it was a bit of a spite fuelled adventure at the beginning.) I don't normally like to post things before they're finished because quite frankly I didn't trust myself to actually finish it, but I guess because I had a clear ending in mind, I was able to get there eventually.

I am not used to being in such a big fandom, so the support has been a completely new experience, and it's honestly been a little overwhelming (in the best way possible). I have been on the struggle bus these past few monoths with moving to a new house and a ton of unexpected bills on top of it, and I don't think I would have been able to get to this point without my friends and reviewers. I've met so many wonderful people, and it's been fun being in a fandom that isn't just me and my best buds.

About the story itself, there were a few deleted scenes that I wished I could put in, but ultimately decided against. Goro was initially going to physically meet Rumi, for one, but it didn't quite fit, and it felt like it was distracting from the main story too much, which was ultimately Goro finding something to live for. There was definitely not enough time for him to learn to love himself in just the short space of time where the third semester took place, but he has the rest of his life to learn how to, surrounded by people who are willing to show him by loving him back.

Sumire's relationship with Goro is also one that I really wanted to play with, especially as two extremely cynical people who don't really interact in canon. I feel like it's easy to just see Sumi as someone who's peppy and a little airheaded, but she's also extremely depressed, and put her entire existence on fulfilling her sister's wish, much like Goro's existence is based on killing Shido. I think they would understand each other intrinsically on a level that is very fun to explore, beyond "well we both love pego". Also, Atlus what the heck did you do with her. Give her to me. Let me sort it. I didn't think it helped her character any by being kidnapped for a week then beaten up and suddenly being like "wow you're right I can live as myself now". She needed to find that inner strength herself, with a little nudge from Goro who recognises the same pain. Of course, Goro's solution was "kill the person responsible" and Sumire can't reaaally do that with a hit and run, but she has a better support system than Goro and can learn to channel that more productively. If it's gymnastics, or something else entirely, I don't know.

I don't want to go too deep into the details with futaba and haru because this is already getting QUITE LONG, and I'm certain that there are only going to be a few people who have read this far, and those people already know how I feel about their relationship. I mean I was pretty clear in the fic itself, it's one of the less subtle things, I think; Futaba is the youngest, and she's extremely traumatised, and people have been enabling her bad behaviour by indulging it. It's 'helpful' rather than invasive, and okay, it saved Akira's life... but I do think there was definitely a better way to do it than bugging his phone. (Actually, another thing I didn't get to touch on is how the Thieves blatantly used Goro for their own plan regarding the interrogation room rather than attempting to understand him or his motives, perfectly fine with manipulating him back to thinking he's manipulating them, and how much that would fuck up someone who already has a complex about being used... but that's for another day and another fic, I think).

Finally, Maruki: this man is fucked up. I know it's easy to see him as sympathetic when he has the best intentions, and wants to 'help' people, but intentions don't matter when it comes to hurt and abuse. You can intend to be a perfectly kind person and still abuse your power over them. Don't get me wrong, I love him dearly, he's such a fucked up little skrungley boy, but he's definitely not the wet cat that he looks like at first glance. He's a researcher, forward in his field of cognitive pscience to the point where he awakened his own powers by himself, and has been shamelessly abusing his position as a therapist to get more information for his own gain (which, I emphasise, is to control the lives of everyone ever so that nobody suffers again) from the main cast.

Anyway, before I sign off, I will put out there that I have been thinking about Strikers, But With Baby Rei On Board. It's been spinning in my head since I finished. it's not going to happen (I refuse to do an entire game rewrite--just the third semester was an entire Thing, and I hate rehashing canon scenes), but hopefully you can glean some fun and entertaining thoughts about it. If you do, let me know! or don't.

A'ight, that's it from me. Thank you for reading. It's been... well, not long, but I feel like my writing is a little dense and requires some re-reads to fully experience it, so it FEELS longer than it is. Either way, I am kissing gently every single one of you who have made it this far down my massive ramble. Thank you, truly.

MIS

[rollingsins]

Hi! What a nice surprise to wake up to. I'm on my way to work and reading this now cause I am desperate and can't wait until my break. Let's go!

Ugh Richie get your nasty cheetoh fingers off of her! R doesn't want to catch your crusty disease.

Oh boy. R will have a bruise cause of Richie. He is dead. Tara will gut him. See ya never again, bye! 👋🏼

Lol immediately R screams. Love that. She doesn't let Richie boss her around. Good.

Oh fuck yes! Well done Sam! Even if he isn't Ghostface, she should have kicked him out anyway. Finally Sam came to her senses. Better late than never.

Ha go drag his sorry ass! Too much to drink and just saw her. What a creep he is. Seriously, can Tara please kill him?

BITCH YOU AINT NOBODYS FRIEND. NO ONE LIKES YOU YOU DISGUSTING STINKY MAN!

Oh no. Go get Tara! RUN R!

lol, terrible timing cause Tara is probably getting stabbed right now but I knew it! That stupid darn whistle was entirely useless! Take that, whistle. I won.

Uff. My heart. Tara is never scared. She always has the upper hand. Now she can't do anything. Poor baby. She's probably so scared to die and leave R. R, just throw Richie at Ghostface and save Tara. He's expendable.

Hmm. Ghostface is bigger than Tara. That's not a miracle cause it applies to nearly everyone...

Okay, I hate Richie as much as the next person but "Mister Ghostface" made me cackle in the bus. That's so stupid but funny.

Hmm. Ghostface attacked the police. So maybe not Judy? But she is even more desperate to solve the murders for Wes so that's where the frustration can come from!

Tara 🥺

DAD SHUT UP. Of course Tara wants to see R. Blood or not. Ugh, men 🙄

Lol yes. Everyone against Richie. You go Dad!

Poor Sam. YOU GO SAM YES DRAG RICHIE THROUGH THE MUD. BADASS LADY

Unless she wasn't expecting it. Someone she knew. Who de we know that can break into a house and disarm an alarm. JUDY SHE IS A TRAINED SHERIFF. COME ON PEOPLE. (I hope in right cause I can't imagine/think of someone else...)

AS IF IT'S SAM. Nah ah. She would never hurt Tara. It's Mindy before it would EVER be Sam. No way in hell. (If it is Sam I will come for you btw)

Lol Mindy is prepared! Love that. (That you need a girlfriend line feels like a call out cause I also heavily thought about who Ghostface is... I just don't have a folder)

Nope. I take it back. Don't love it. Mindy is the horror buff but she fails to see the obvious connection of the victims being linked to R, so she accused Sam!?? Not in my watch! Obviously I don't want Tara to get caught but Sam IS NOT Ghostface! Focus people and figure it out. Ugh.

Oh right the police outside! Who can control the police? JUDY HICKS.

Yes Tara, please kill Richie. Pretty please 🙏

No Mindy you're not right and if you don't shut up I will punsh you.

Being in the hospital didn't work out that great for Tara in the movie...

How adorable is it that Tara got sliced and diced yet she still wants to protect R. Murderous tendencies aside, she really is the perfect girlfriend!

Phew what a chapter. Dragging Richie is my favorite past time activity.

Onto the suspects!

Richie clearly is not Ghostface. What a shame. Sam absolutely no way in hell. The Scooby Gang nah. As if they cared that much about Wes or anyone else to get revenge on Tara and R. That just leaves Judy! Who else could it be?? Someone strong and trained to take out an alarm system. Someone who knows about Tara and R. Wes probably told her. It's her.

🙏🏼🙏🏼🙏🏼

I live for your reviews 😭 please never stop. Re suspects… everyone is a suspect